The Girl Who Was a Riddle
by doctormerlocked11
Summary: Lily Watercreek lives a less than ordinary life, with her "schizophrenic hallucinations" always getting her into trouble. But when the Doctor comes into her life to show her the universe, everything changes. Can he discover the reason for Lily's visions before it is too late to save her? OC Lily Watercreek. Will get more mature and darker as the story progresses.
1. Chapter 1

Part 1:

It was an ordinary night. Plain. Nothing special. The moon rose, the people slept, the planet spun, and none of the Earth's seven billion inhabitants knew that the events that would take place on that ordinary night would change the universe forever…

Chapter 1: The Curse of Lily Watercreek

I adjusted my coat against the cold rain. "How stereotypically London," I thought to myself with a small smile. It had started raining harder since I started my walk, but I didn't mind. In fact, I rather enjoyed it, I didn't even care that I was sick. I had always loved the rain: the way the drops made miniscule splashes when they finally crashed to Earth, the smell, the sound. Most people use umbrellas or just take cabs instead of walking when it rains like this, but not me. I just let the rain fall, letting it soak me.

I didn't take a walk only for the rain though, I just needed to get out of my house. I had one of my episodes again. They've been happening more and more often lately. Sudden, blinding flashes of pain in my head, followed by a complete loss of bodily function and strange visions-well, I called them visions anyway, my therapist calls them schizophrenic hallucinations.

But the worst part of these visions, besides the excruciating pain I mean, is the confused feeling I get afterwards. The images I see feel so familiar, and yet they are completely foreign to me. It's like deja-vu, like remembering a dream you have long forgotten; and then I have to draw what I see before I forget it again. I've actually accumulated quite a collection of these drawings, my whole guest room is dedicated to them. Some are pictures of strange, alien-like creatures and symbols, and some are beautiful, impossible landscapes and swirls of color. But the things that I see the most which are also the most terrifying, are the eyes.

Now, mind you, these eyes aren't normal eyes. They're … I can't even describe them properly. They don't even feel human. It's like they're looking straight into your soul, like they've seen all the universe's darkest secrets, and yet they have the appearance of youth. And their color: blood red that flashes when angered. Those eyes … I must have dozens of pictures of those eyes. I actually gad to stop myself from drawing them because I have so many. They haunt me.

I gave an involuntary shiver as I walked down the street, but it didn't have anything to do with the cold rain…


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hello people! Since the last chapter of this story was so short, I decided to post a new chapter earlier than I had planned, so hi! This is my first fan-fiction (ever), so keep that in mind when you are (hopefully) reviewing. A special thanks to my first (and only) reviewer Nicoleisawesmazing! And I promise this story will gain in action, the first chapter was more of an intro :)**

I was about a block away from my place when I heard it-the scream.

It was the most horrible thing I had ever heard in my life. It was the sound of terror. Someone was in danger! I looked around for someone, anyone, who could help but the street was deserted. I saw a police call box, but I knew the cops would take too long…

I sprinted as fast as I could toward the alley where the cry had come from. I had to help them, because if I didn't who else would?

As I entered the alley, I mentally prepared myself to bit, kick, or punch-anything that would help whoever was in danger. But nothing could've prepared me for what I saw standing in that alley.

About six feet tall, towering over the cowering woman, was a giant lizard. Standing on two legs, it looked like something I would see in one of my visions, not in London. Maybe I was having a vision now? No. No- I didn't feel any pain, apart from the ebbing pain from my earlier vision. So the lizard was definitely, and unfortunately, real.

I could tell it was just about to lunge for the woman, so I did the first thing that came to my mind.

"Oi!" I shouted at the lizard-man, "Leave her alone!" I didn't know what good it would do me, seeing as he (or she I couldn't really tell) probably couldn't understand English, but I certainly got his attention.

He turned his head in curiosity and saw me. I think I saw his tongue taste the air before he turned away from the woman and walked in my direction.

As soon as the lizard-man was a safe distance away from her, I shouted to the woman, "Run!" And she did, as fast as she could without turning back until she was out of the alley and back to safety- lucky her. At first, the lizard-man started to follow her out, but then I shouted, "Oi! Where do you think you're going? I'm over here!" before grabbing a brick from the ground and throwing it at his head. He turned to look at me.

How many stupid decisions could someone possibly make in one night?

I thought I was dead when it hissed menacingly at me. It began to run in my direction (waving its' spiked tail-which I had failed to notice earlier) when, all of a sudden, I heard footsteps coming towards us. I turned away from my attacker and saw a man enter the alley who suddenly shouted at me to duck.

Before I could even register what he was saying, I felt a sharp pain in my left arm and fell to the ground. Luckily it wasn't bleeding because it had only been the blunt part- the lizard seemed just as distracted my the new man as I was. The rest happened very quickly.

I heard a strange sound, almost like a high-pitched ringing, and the lizard man hissed in either anger or pain. I looked up from the ground just in time to see the lizard hit the new man with it's tail; and although I couldn't see his injuries, I knew he wasn't as lucky as I had been.

Just like with the woman, I could tell that the lizard was about to deliver its' final blow to the wounded man. In desperation (or foolish bravery you can never really tell), I felt the ground for something I could use to help my rescuer. My hands gripped an iron rod from a collapsed fire escape and I stood up and swung it with all my adrenaline-fueled strength at the monster's head.

With a hiss it fell to the ground, but just when I thought we were finally safe, the lizard-man stirred.

I just dazed it.

Panicking, I grabbed the man's left arm and forced him to his feet. We then ran out of the alley-not looking back.

**Please tell me what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Sorry, this chapter is going to be a (really) long one but I couldn't find a good place to split it up. And fair warning, the next few chapters are going to be pretty much pure dialogue and not very action packed. But I promise it will get more exciting during parts 2 and 3! (this is a 3 part story by the way). Thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers! I live for reviews (what is this social life people speak of?), so please submit them!**

Since my house was close, we didn't have to run that far, but it wasn't until our backs were pressed against the locked door of my house in exhaustion that I looked at the face of my rescuer.

He was handsome, I supposed, with light greenish-blue eyes and brown hair that was parted at the side. The first thing I noticed about him however was his peculiar outfit. He was wearing a bowtie and suspenders. This would have made me laugh had we not just been attacked by a giant, homicidal lizard.

"Thank you." I breathed slightly heavily to him- as I was still catching my breath from our escape.

He let out a small laugh, "Thank you." I noticed he sounded much more out of breath than I did, then I remembered his injury.

I stepped in front of the man and looked at his right shoulder, where his tweed jacket was covering his wound. "Are you alright?" I asked, knowing full well what the answer was.

"Yeah, of course I'm alright. I'm always alright," he lied passively.

"Let me see it." I looked into his eyes. I could tell he didn't want to show me, but the look on my face must have shown him that I wasn't going to back down he moved his jacket so I could get a clear look.

My stomach dropped. From about the middle of his right pectoral muscle to his shoulder was a gash that was seeping blood through his shirt.

"I'm calling an ambulance." I told him automatically. My hand reached for my phone, but before I could get to it, his hand around my wrist stopped me.

"No!" he said in a frantic voice, "Really, I'm fine- I'm a fast healer. I don't need to go to the hospital."

"Have you seen that wound? I'm surprised you can stand in the state you're in-"

"But I am standing so I don't need to go," he said in a quick, hushed voice. Our eyes met again and this time it was me who looked down in resignation.

"Fine," I said in frustration- I couldn't understand why he wouldn't just go to the hospital. "But at least let me take care of that- I don't want you to go off after surviving a flight with a giant lizard only to die from something a hospital could easily fix." At this, he smiled. It was a nice smile, like a kids- carefree and openly happy. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they smile- and so far, I liked this man.

I couldn't help but return it as we walked into my den. "Alright, you wait here while I get the first aid kit."

"Alright," he replied distractedly, suddenly very interested in my childhood photographs.

When I came back downstairs, kit in hand, he had taken to exploring the room with his eyes while seated on the sofa. From the way he was holding his right arm, I could tell he was in pain, but he was doing an excellent job of not showing it.

"Here we are," I said to him, sitting down on the coffee table in front of the sofa. "May I?" I pointed to his injured shoulder and he nodded in assent. I leaned forward and moved his jacket out of the way to get a closer look. It still looked bad, but it seemed to be bleeding less- which at least meant he wasn't going to die of blood loss because he refused to go to the hospital.

"Well, at least you weren't lying about being a fast healer."

"I told you," we paused for a moment. "So what do I call you?" he asked with a smile, and again I couldn't help but return it.

"Lily, Lily Watercreek." I answered.

"Lily Watercreek," he mused with a smile, "That's a brilliant name. Very ... water-y. I had a friend whose last name was Pond once- there seems to be a theme occurring." He smiled again- man, he sure did smile a lot.

I couldn't help but laugh at how interesting he thought my name was, "And what about you? What do I call the dashing hero who saves girls from strange lizard creatures?" This time I initiated the smile.

"Well, I wouldn't say 'dashing hero'- seeing as you ended up saving me, and believe me that doesn't happen often. But you can call me the Doctor."

Before I could respond to his unusual answer, I felt a stabbing pain behind my eyes and a rush of- what was it?- either anger or pleasure. _Oh no_, I thought to myself, _not now, please, of all times._ But just as soon as it had started, it stopped.

"Just what I need, another Doctor." I mused to myself while rubbing my eyes.

"What was that?" he asked in a confused voice.

_Oh, damn. That was out loud, wasn't it?_

Trying to steer the conversation out of awkward territory, I pointed to his wound again, "This isn't going to work."

"Sorry?"

"I can't get to that wound to dress it. You're going to have to take off your shirt." I felt slightly- actually no, extremely- awkward saying this, but it was true. However that reasoning didn't stop the tint of blush that crept up my cheeks.

He rolled his eyes slightly when I said this, but started unbuttoning his shirt and complained, which I could see was going to be a habit with him, "Really, I'm going to be fine. I'm a fast healer."

"Uh-huh, I believe we've already established that," I felt like a parent trying to pacify a kid. Well, he did act a bit childish.

Five minutes later I was dressing a wound given to a bowtie-wearing Doctor by a six-foot tall lizard... Could this night be any weirder?

I was wiping away the excess blood from his wound when I asked him the question that had been eating at me since I first saw him, "What was that thing?" I looked up into his eyes, "I know you know. You did something- that noise stopped it for a second. You knew what to do."

He smiled at me, "Very good, Lily Watercreek. I like it when people are clever, it makes my job so much easier. That creature was an off-shoot of the species _homo reptilia_- I thought all all of his kind were extinct. Apparently not." He seemed to get lost in his thoughts for a moment, then he looked back up at me expectantly.

"Okay, I think I understood some of that. So, basically giant lizard people, yeah?"

"Basically, yeah," he chuckled.

"Was it an alien? But- wait, you said _homo reptilia_? Does _homo_ mean he's from Earth or that he looks human?" What was I even saying?

"Yes." he replied simply, smiling wider than ever at me. How did he know all these things? And I don't even know why I believed him in the first place, he just seemed ... trustworthy or something.

"Right," I was so dazed. How could this be real? I was sitting in my den talking about giant lizard people with a man who I had just met. Again- really strange night.

"You're taking this rather well, actually. Most people don't believe me at first." said the Doctor.

"Yeah, well. I guess I've seen a lot weirder, believe me. I just never thought any of it was real."

At this point I was almost done with his shoulder. I started putting on the final bandage when he asked me, "What do you mean, you never thought any of it was real? What have you seen before?" His eyes caught mine again, but before I could answer him, I felt something impossible beneath my hand.

No, no it couldn't be- it was my imagination. That's impos- but, there it was again! A heartbeat, which wouldn't have been so strange, had it not been on the wrong side of his body.

My hand froze on his chest for a fraction of a second, but he seemed to notice because he eyes were searching for my reaction.

"Well ... that's ... different." I finally managed to choke out. Suddenly, everything that had happened that night made sense, "You're not human." I stated. It wasn't a question.

"No," he said flatly, a slight grin on his face.

He didn't elaborate on that fact, so I decided to ask him outright: "Are you an alien? Or just another species like that _homo reptilia_?" I was barely whispering.

"I'm an alien," He answered, still wary of how I would react.

"Where are you from?" I tried to ask in the most casual way possible.

"A planet called Gallifrey. A long, long way from here: 250 million light-years, actually... I'm a Timelord, that's what Gallifreyans are called. And sorry about the heartbeat, I really should be more careful about that, but I have two hearts."

"Oh," I relaxed a little. He seemed like a descent person- or Timelord. Did it really matter if he was from another planet? _Although it did explain the bowtie_, I thought with a small laugh. "Wait, you have _two _hearts." I felt the other side of his chest and, sure enough, there was another heartbeat.

"You look human," I stated smiling at him, and he seemed to brighten at my reaction.

"You look timelord," he corrected, "we came first."

"Ah," I said, staring at him in what I hope didn't come across as wonder. "So ... if you're an alien, with obviously many more technological advancements than humans... Why on Earth would you wear a bowtie?" I laughed, I was making jokes with an alien!

He smiled, fixing his bowtie, "I like bowties. Bowties are cool."

I couldn't help but laugh out loud at his ridiculousness- he was just too fantastic to be real. Soon, he joined in with me and we just sat there, laughing.

"How did you know to come here?" I asked after out spontaneous laughter had subsided. "Were you tracking the _homo reptilia_?"

"Not exactly. I was tracking a high energy signal that my scanners picked up. It led me here." He paused and looked around my house again, then at me, "I'm still looking into it though." he informed me.

We paused for a moment, both lost in our thoughts. "What do we do about the _homo reptilia_, though? I mean, it's still out there, it could hurt someone else."

"Very unlikely," he said matter-of-factly, "That was a descent blow you gave him," (I noticed with satisfaction that he couldn't help but look impressed as he said this), "When that particular species of _homo reptilia_ are physically injured, they go into hibernation so their bodies can repair themselves. It's quite a smart thing to do, really. More species should try it. That one must have gone into hibernation before its' species became extinct, and it woke up in 21st century London."

"Oh." I was suddenly filled with sadness for the creature, "You mean, he's all alone?"

"Yes," the Doctor said sadly.

"That's just... awful. Could you imagine? Being the last of your kind?" I said this more to myself than him.

"I don't really have to," he whispered giving himself a wry smile. I don't think I was supposed to hear that, because when he saw my confused expression, he quickly changed the subject.

"Well... I think I'm all better now." He pointed to the bandage on his shoulder and I nodded, still thinking of what he'd just said.

"I'll just put this back upstairs," I said taking the first aid kit. I left him putting his shirt back on.

**Please tell me what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello there :) Sorry it's been a while, I've been busy with real life and all that boring stuff, but I've taken care of that. Yey! Anyway, sorry again and I hope it was worth the wait!**

As I went up the stairs, I thought of all that had happened that night. Was it really less than an hour ago that my world had been normal? That I was just an ordinary girl walking in the rain with no conception of how big the universe actually was? Now look at me: I was chatting with an alien in my living room.

I walked into my spare room and looked at all my drawings. Creatures, planets, colors. Was I actually crazy? Maybe I had visions of real things? Now that I knew alien planets and species actually existed- my drawings didn't look as crazy as they had before. On the other hand, having visions of the universe was an insane notion- it was completely impossible. How could I possibly see the universe if I had never left Britain, let alone Earth?

I was suddenly yanked out of my reverie. And for the third time that day, I felt a stabbing pain in my head, more painful than usual. I collapsed on the floor and the world was a rush of colors and shapes. Pain coursed through my entire body as I felt a swelling anger. And those eyes, those burning eyes...

"Lily!" I heard someone cry from a distance. I opened my eyes and saw the Doctor kneeling over me.

Oh, it wasn't at a distance then.

"Are you alright?" He asked. He moved and I heard the same high-pitched ringing noise I had heard in the alleyway. I noticed that I was on the floor. _Oh yes, I fell_. I was still really confused about what was going on- a symptom of the visions.

I suddenly felt someone shake me by the shoulders, "Lily, are you alright? Say something!"

_I should answer him_, I thought to myself, but it took a minute for that command to register in my brain.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine," I lied not too convincingly, "What happened?" I was still really slow at the moment.

"I don't know. A few minutes after you went upstairs I heard a crash and a scream... You sounded like you were hurt." He was looking at me with a worried expression on his face.

At his words, I started to remember: I fell to the floor and I pushed over a table with a stack of drawings on it. Then I must've screamed from the unusual amount of pain. Then my vision: just a bunch of shapes. Circles- like what you would see inside a clock. And the eyes... I had seen those eyes again as well.

"Lily, what aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing." I said shaking my head, trying to dispel the sense of confusion. I knew I wouldn't be able to fight off his questions if I wasn't fully concentrating.

"You shouldn't lie- it doesn't work on me." He said seriously.

_I might as well tell him_, I thought to myself, _he's not going to stop asking_.

_But he'll think you're a nutter, _that annoying voice at the back of my head argued. _You don't want that, do you? You like talking to someone who doesn't think you're a freak for once._ I really wasn't too fond of this voice.

_He won't think that I'm a freak! Look at him! It's not like he's exactly "sane"!_

"Lily!" His impatient voice broke off my internal argument. "What's wrong?" he asked again.

I hesitated, "Nothing. Well not exactly nothing I suppose. I just ... see stuff." I finished lamely.

"See stuff?"

"Yeah, like pictures- like I'm seeing really strange movies inside my head. I'm just sick- that's all."

"Sick? What do you mean, sick?" I didn't understand his question, wasn't it obvious?

"I mean like mentally insane, crazy, a nutter." I really didn't want to be talking about this. He finally understood what I was saying and a look of disgust creeped onto his face. I knew this would happen.

"Oh, you humans! You take anything you don't understand and just label it "crazy" don't you! Anything that doesn't make sense in your limited reality must not be sensible!" He looked angry, but it wasn't directed at me, more like the world. That was not the reaction I expected.

"Lily, I want you to listen to me very carefully- you are not crazy. Unique, most definitely, but that doesn't make you insane, it makes you wonderful." He took my face into his hands as he said this and looked into my eyes, like he was trying to make me believe him- and it worked.

I smiled. This was the first time anyone had told me I wasn't insane, and the first time someone hadn't shied away from me because of my visions. I really did like the Doctor now.

He returned my smile and looked around the room-suddenly noticing all of the drawings, "Oh," he said, mildly surprised, "So these must be what you see."

"Yeah. I have to draw them right away, or I'll just forget them. Actually..." I thought for a moment, frustrated with myself. "I forgot what I just saw! Unbelievable, all that pain for nothing!" I hated when this happened, especially the really confused feeling I got afterward. I knew I had seen the eyes agin and the strange circles- but I wouldn't be able to draw them with any detail.

The Doctor was waling around the room looking at all my pictures with a curious and disbelieving expression. He froze when he saw a picture on the table and picked it up. I watched him stand there for a few moments before he spoke.

"Do you have names for any of these- just out of curiosity?"

"Yeah, some of them. They just come to me sometimes when I'm drawing them. It feels like calling a table a table- it just makes sense... I'm not explaining it right, it's a hard feeling to put to words."

He turned towards me: "What about this one?" He held up the picture he had stopped at. I recognized it immediately because I had drawn it several times. It was a robot with a plunger for a hand.

I nodded, "I call that a Dalek."

**Sorry this one wasn't as long as the last one, but I thought this was a good place to end. Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello people! This is another long one, to make up for the very short one that you have coming your way, so enjoy it while it lasts! FYI for all you non-British people: In Britain, torch means flashlight, I don't want you thinking the Doctor carries around some medieval fire stick or anything. **

He paused for a moment. "A Dalek? Are you sure?" The Doctor asked nervously.

"Yes." I had always thought that it was a very strange name, but it seemed to suit the robot for some reason.

The Doctor stared at me in disbelief- and there was something else in his eyes. Was it fear?

"But that's ... that's," he looked as if he was trying to comprehend what I was telling him. "That's impossible." he finished.

"What's impossible?"

He didn't answer me, he just ran around the room looking at more pictures, "What about this one? Do you have a name for this?" This time he practically shoved the picture in my face.

"Why?" I suddenly asked. Why did this seem so important to him? They were just pictures.

"Oh, just answer the question!"

"Fine! It's the... Medusa Cascade." He just stared at me again! I was starting to feel like he was the one keeping secrets this time.

"No... No." He muttered, "it's just a coincidence, it has to be... But how can it be?"

He ran around the room again and shoved another picture in my face, this time of a planet. "That's..." I stopped, it was such a strange name.

"What is it?!" he practically shouted at me.

"Raxacoricofallapatorius!" I shouted back at him. He gave me that stare again. "You see, this is why people think I'm insane: I give stupid names to strange looking drawings!" But he wasn't paying attention anymore- he was running around the room again.

It happened four more times, and each time I was forced to shout another name:

"Cyberman!"

"Skaro!"

"The Mountains of Solace and Solitude!"

"The Gates of Elysium!"

He finally gave up on his inquisition and resigned to pacing the floor, which was now scattered with several drawings.

"We're not going to go through all these pictures are we?" I asked sarcastically, "Because there are hundreds, maybe thousands would take a while."

He looked up slowly at me like he'd barely heard me, "Yes, right ... okay," and he continued his pacing.

After about another minute of him thinking and me watching him from the floor, he looked up at me. "By any chance, you don't happen to have a pocket watch do you? It'd be old, not seem very important- you wouldn't give it much thought." he asked this in a very cryptic way, which freaked me out a little bit.

"Yeah, I do. It's in my room."

He nodded to himself, "Get it, will you?" and he resumed his pacing.

"No, not until you tell me what's going on. You aren't telling me something important and until you spit it out- no."

He rolled his eyes impatiently, "Lily, now is not the time to be difficult! The reason I'm not telling you anything is because I'm not sure what's going on. It's a new feeling, not knowing. I have so say I don't like it. But if you get me your pocket watch I might just figure this out."

We both paused for a moment, "Fine." I resigned, "But you have to tell me eventually." I walked into my bedroom and grabbed my pocket watch, which the Doctor then snatched from me as soon as I re-entered the guest room.

He turned it over in his hands, looking over it's every detail. Then, very slowly, he opened it.

Nothing happened.

"Gah!" he shouted in frustration, flinging my pocket watch at the wall where it broke.

"Hey! You can't just-"

"No, no, no! What else could it be?!" he shouted more to himself than to me.

"What exactly were you expecting to find? It's just a pocket watch!" I really had no idea what was going on anymore.

"I know it's just a pocket watch- but it can't be! There's no other explanation for how you know about all this!" He waved around to all my drawings then started pacing again, moving his hand through his hair in frustration.

"Wait... You mean all of this stuff is real?" It couldn't be.

"Yes, of course it's real! Keep up!"

"Well I'm sorry if my brain doesn't work as fast as yours, oh great Time Lord! I only learned aliens existed half an hour ago, so sorry if I find this all a little hard to believe!" I shouted at him. I was so fed up with him at the moment, but, more than that I was scared. If all of these pictures I named were real, then that meant the other horrible things I had seen were real too. Those eyes were real...

"Right... sorry," he finally said. "It's just that this makes absolutely no sense- you make absolutely no sense!" he stared at me in wonder.

"Wow, you sure know how to make a girl feel special." I commented sarcastically.

"I'm serious- there's no way you could possible know some of this. Alright, it's possible you could've seen a Dalek or a Cyberman, but it's impossible for anyone to see the Gates of Elysium or the Mountains of Solace and Solitude because they're time locked!"

Now he really wasn't making any sense. "Time locked? Those places are locked ... in time?"

"Yes, it's impossible to get inside a time locked event. Think of it like a bubble- well actually it's nothing like a bubble, but think of it like a bubble if it helps. Nothing can get in or out of it. So how can these places be depicted on your guest room wall?" He looked at me expectantly- did he think I could answer that question?

"I don't know. I just see it, I can't exactly control it, and most of the time I don't even know what I'm seeing. It's like I'm dreaming: I can't tell when it's not real when it's happening, and when it's over if fades too quickly. I can only remember those eyes," I pointed to one of the pictures of the eyes, "and a bunch of circles from the vision I just had."

"Yeah, I noticed the numerous eyes," he looked around the room for a minute, "Circles, you said? What kind of circles?"

"I dunno, just circles. Like something you would see inside a clock."

He turned on the spot to look at me, "Can you draw them, can you remember what they looked like?" He had adopted the same urgent tone of voice he spoke with before.

"No- I can't remember it exactly, it didn't make much sense. It did seem familiar, though. I might've drawn it before." I didn't even realize what I was saying until after it had left my mouth, but I knew that it was true. Now that I thought about it, those circles did look familiar, but I had forgotten that when the Doctor had distracted me. Why did I suddenly remember?

While I was thinking of the circles, the Doctor was dashing about the room again, searching for one drawing among hundreds. He was never going to find it.

But I knew where it was. Did I?... Yes, I did. It was in the stack that I had pushed over during my vision. I even knew that it was the thirty-seventh from the top. How could I possibly know where it was? A few seconds ago I was just as clueless as the Doctor.

I crawled over to the pile of fallen pictures and ruffled through them until I had found what I was looking for.

"Doctor! I found it- it's over here!" I held the picture out for him as he ran and knelt beside me. As he looked at it, his mouth dropped open in shock.

"But... But that's not-!"

"Yes, we've already established that this whole situation is impossible, Doctor! But what is it?" I was getting impatient again, I needed answers.

"This," he pointed at the circles, "this is Gallifreyan. The language of the Time Lords." He looked at it again in disbelief, then back at me.

"You mean your language? You are a Time Lord, right? Can you read it?"

"Yes, of course." he said impatiently, "But that's not the question you should be asking. What I'm wondering is how you can be writing a language that no one in the universe, excluding me, knows."

I paused, thinking. Hang on, "Only you know it? What about the other Time Lords, do they not speak Gallifreyan anymore?"

"No, I'm the last one, the only Time Lord left in existence. So I'm the only one that knows the language."

"Oh," I thought back to what he said earlier that night, about not needing to imagine what it was like to be the last of his kind. Now I understood, he was the last of his kind. I felt so bad for him, I just wanted to tell him how sorry I was, but-

"Anyway, the word what you've written is only known by a few people, and I know that those people are all dead, so how do you know it?" He stood up and started pacing again. I was pretty sure he was going to ruin the carpet from the number of times he had paced the length of the room.

I realized he hadn't answered my question, "Doctor, what does it mean?" He still didn't answer me.

He suddenly stopped, "Lily, stand up for a moment," he didn't even wait for me to stand up on my own, but he pulled me up by my arm.

"Okay, why am I standing up?" I asked once I'd gained my balance.

"I need to check something, just hold still," as he said this, he took something out of his jacket pocket that looked like a torch. Before I could ask what he was doing he pointed it at me and pressed a button.

It made that noise- that high pitched ringing noise that stopped the homo reptilia. He held it pointed at me for a moment, then moved around the whole room before the noise stopped and he examined the object.

"Strange." he muttered to himself.

"I'll say," I said with a slight grin- I think I was taking this all a little too well, "What is that thing?" I motioned to his device.

"Oh, this? It's my sonic screwdriver." he said flatly.

I laughed a little, "Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic?'"

"What you've never been bored, never had a cabinet that needed building?" he said defensively.

"Alright," I still had no idea what the thing was, "What does it do?"

He looked at me incredulously, "One does not simply explain what a sonic screwdriver does! It does everything, anything. Well, except wood, but I'm in the process of working that out."

"Alright, no need to get all defensive. Go on then, what's strange?"

He paused hesitantly, "Nothing."

I rolled my eyes and quoted him: "You shouldn't lie to me, it doesn't work." I said mockingly to him.

He smiled at my words, "Okay, honesty time: You are giving off an unusually high amount of energy. At first, I just thought it was your house- that's why I let you fix my shoulder, because I needed a closer look. But it's not your house, it's you."

I gave him a disbelieving look, "That was you letting me fix your shoulder. Good Lord, I'd hate to have an argument with you." He rolled his eyes and I paused for a moment. Then something clicked in my head, "Hang on, you said before you were tracking a high energy signal and that's why you came here. Am I that same signal?"

"Yes, I got your signal all the way from the fifty-first century, I had a meeting with a certain Captain. It's like you wanted me to come here." He stopped at his own words, and looked at my Gallifreyan drawing that was still in his hands.

That reminded me, "Doctor, what does that mean?" He had gotten me off topic again. Man, I thought, he is a master of deflection.

He put his hand over my mouth, "I'm thinking, hush," I gave him a look that clearly said, What the hell are you doing?, but he wasn't paying me any attention, he was just looking around the room with a confused expression on his face. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. Then-

"Of course!" he burst out, finally taking his hand off my mouth, only to use it to hit his forehead with his palm. "I've been so slow! Stupid, thick Doctor! It's all about me!" He looked at me with a triumphant smile- I still didn't get it.

"Wow, you're not the least bit self-centered, are you?"

"Are you always this sarcastic?" he tried to sound irritated, but he couldn't help giving me a small smile, "I'm serious though, all the places and creatures you've had visions of, all of these drawings are to do with me. Even this." he held up the picture of Gallifreyan.

"What is it?" I asked for about the billionth time.

He seemed to pause for dramatic effect, "It's my name."

**Sorry that there's a huge amount of dialogue and absolutely no action, but Part 1 (which is this part) of the story has to be dedicated to explaining the mystery of Lily, so please bear with me and don't let that discourage you! Please review, they literally keep me alive!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hola people! Okay, so I said this chapter would be pitifully short, and I have lived up to that expectation, so at least I'm honest! As a result I will try to post the next chapter soon, and it will be longer than this. Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers because you keep me writing this! And, again, I apologize for the lack of excitement, there shall be action (eventually)! Actually, part 1 is almost over so it won't be that far off! **

We both paused for a moment, "How is any of this possible?" I wondered out loud.

"I don't know," he said, a line forming between his eyebrows.

I suddenly began to panic. It seemed like all the information that I had learned that night was finally sinking in and I began to question everything. The Doctor seemed like the only person on Earth who could answer me.

"Why can I see all these things?" I asked in barely a whisper.

"I don't know." he repeated.

"Why did I want you to come here?"

"I don't know."

"How could I possibly be signaling you without knowing it?!" This time I practically shouted at him.

"I don't-"

"Stop saying that!" I screamed, my frustration boiling over. "Why won't you answer me?!"

"Because I don't have any of the answers, Lily!" he shouted back at me. It was really shocking to see him angry, a little bit scary even.

I couldn't take it- I couldn't take any of it. All of the shock and frustration and panic of the night hit me like a train and I began to feel a stinging in my eyes. Oh God, I hated crying.

His face seemed to shift from anger to sympathy in less than a second, "Oh, Lily, I'm sorry." He walked over to where I was standing and put his arms around me, trying to comfort me, "Lily, everything is going to be fine. I'm going to figure this out, trust me."

He held me like that for a while and I rested my head on his shoulder, tears silently sliding down my cheeks. I could feel both of his heartbeats from the way we were standing. It was somehow soothing, actually. A calm, steady beat: one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four... I wanted to stay there forever.

A question suddenly came to me that I didn't want to ask for fear of the answer, but I had to know, "Doctor, what am I?" I kept my head buried in his shoulder because I didn't want to see his face when I asked this. But he took me by the shoulders and forced me to look into his eyes.

"You are human. You are Lily Watercreek from London. You're the girl who probably saved my life tonight." He gave me a small smile.

"What's wrong with me?"

"There is nothing wrong with you," he said with a little more force, "You're just special, that's all. The universe is infinite and wonderful and sometimes impossible things happen, and we call them miracles. Maybe that's what you are, a miracle."

I thought about that for a moment. Could I really just be a fluke? A big cosmic mystery that happened for no reason whatsoever? I didn't believe that- everything has a cause and effect, and I was no excuse. There was a reason for me being like this, and I suspected the Doctor thought so too. But whatever it was, neither of us knew. So, for now at least, I was a miracle.

I looked into his eyes for another minute, thinking about this, "Thank you," I said.

"For what?"

"For everything. Saving my life, telling me I'm not insane, trying to make sense of all this... Just ... thank you." Then I did something that that took us both by surprise: I leaned up on my toes and kissed him.

It was just a peck, and it wasn't meant to be a romantic thing, just a thank you. However, we both still blushed a little bit when I pulled away, and I couldn't deny that I enjoyed it a little too much. Oh, the impulsive things I did sometimes...

"Yes, well... You're welcome." he said rocking back and forth on his feet and brushing his fingers across his lips.

**They kissed! So I hope that's enough to keep you going! Please tell me what you think :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello all! Thanks to all you lovelies for reviewing, you make my day! Nothing else to say-here's the next chapter!**

He just had time to open his mouth again when the doorbell rang. Oh, no. I completely forgot-

"My sister!" I moaned committing a face-palm. I looked at the Doctor, "I'm sorry, I have to get that."

"Oh, it's fine. I should probably get going anyway." he stated hurriedly.

"Oh." was all I could say, I don't know what else I expected, him being an alien and all, but I didn't want him to go. I felt like I had to be with him now- which was strange since we were practically strangers.

He saw the disappointment on my face and started to speak again, "Un-" the doorbell cut him off again, this time ringing repeatedly.

I rolled my eyes, "Come on, before she kicks down the door," I said, and I led him downstairs. He hung behind in the living room, preoccupied with looking at the pictures in the mantel again, so I just went on to the door.

I opened it and she was standing there- Aurora Watercreek. She was almost the complete opposite of my physically, with her straight blond hair and brown eyes, as opposed to my curly dark brown hair and blue eyes. However, personality wise, we were pretty much identical, although I was much more forgiving than she was.

"Hi, Rory," I stated with a slight smile- she hated it when I called her that.

"Hey, Lil' Bit." she smiled back at me- I didn't like that name either. "Do you have it?"

"Yep, just let me get it," I turned back into the house, praying she wouldn't follow me inside. But, of course, she did. Great, now she was going to think me and the Doctor were dating, or something equally as horrible.

When I entered the living room, followed by Aurora, the Doctor finally looked up from the photos.

"Ah, this must be the sister. I'm the Doctor," he said, shaking her hand.

Aurora got a confused look on her face, "Doctor who?"

At this the Doctor smiled as if enjoying an inside joke and replied, "Just call me the Doctor."

She returned his smile (I did say he had an infectious smile) and mouthed to me, _He's cute_. Oh, God-I knew she was going to do this. She was always practically hell-bent on getting me a boyfriend, something that was very hard considering everyone thought I was mental.

I gave her the most evil look I could manage.

She ignored me and instead told the Doctor, "I'm Aurora."

Before she could say anything else, I said, "Alright then, it's just over here." I walked over to a table and picked up the beautifully wrapped (well it better have been beautiful after my numerous paper cuts) present that she was going to take to a party for me.

"Here you go," I said handing it to her.

"Is it your birthday?" The Doctor asked, addressing Aurora, "Or is it Christmas? That can happen sometimes- I land in the wrong place." he said with a smile.

"Um... no." Aurora said like she didn't have the faintest idea what the Doctor was talking about. Actually, I had no idea what the Doctor was talking about. "I'm going to an anniversary party, but Lily can't go- so I'm taking her gift for her."

The Doctor nodded and turned to me, "Why can't you go? Judging by what's happened tonight, you don't have any plans."

"Well, no," I began to get a bit frustrated with him again, "It comes in waves, my episodes that is. I didn't want to run the risk of going to a crowded place and having one there, so I'm just staying home."

"So you never go out at all?" the Doctor asked.

"Well I usually do, but they've gotten worse and more frequent lately, so I decided not to go."

"The doctors think it's an undiscovered auto-immune disorder." Aurora told the Doctor. I gave her another look that said, _Why would you tell him that?_, and she just shrugged at me. I was really irritated with both of them at the moment: the Doctor for his incessant questions, and Aurora for her revealing answers.

The Doctor stayed silent for a moment then looked up as if he had just remembered something. He walked over to the mantel place and picked up a photograph to show us, "Now, Aurora, this is you isn't it?" He pointed to the little girl with blond hair and brown eyes, but it wasn't Aurora.

"No, that's Lily. Fifth birthday party." She saw the slightly confused look on the Doctor's face and said, "I know, right- most people think that's me because of the hair, but Lily was blond until that year."

"Did it change suddenly?" The Doctor asked, trying to feign polite interest, but I could tell he was thinking of something. He got this peculiar look on his face whenever he was trying to hide something, and I've apparently seen it enough that I can recognize it immediately.

"Yeah, one day she just came downstairs with curly brown hair and blue eyes-our parents didn't believe it was really her. The doctors just pegged it as one of her many medical mysteries." she said this with a slight smile to try and pass it off as a joke, but I knew she was always very concerned with my health. This was a good quality most of the time, like when she would beat up the kids who bullied me, but sometimes she could be so overbearing.

"Strange," he said, more to himself than us.

"Yep, that's pretty much the life of Lily Watercreek abridged." Aurora laughed.

Then the Doctor placed the picture back on the mantel but continued to stare at it as if he was deep in thought.

Aurora and I looked at each other, _Yeah, he's like that_, I said with a look. She nodded. We must have some kind of sister sixth sense, because we can always understand each other even without words.

It was a few moments before the room was filled with an awkward silence, "Well..." Aurora mercifully said, pulling the Doctor out of his reverie, "I'd better be off. Don't want the happy couple to get worried. It was nice meeting you Doctor," she said to him with a smile.

He returned it, "Yes, nice meeting you too. You have been very enlightening."

"Um, thanks," she gave him a final smile before walking toward the front door with me on her heels. Before stepping over the threshold, she pointed in the direction of the Doctor and nodded in approval.

I gave her my most exasperated eye roll ever, "Goodbye, Rory."

She threw her hands up in defense, "Alright, alright. Just don't have _too_ much fun, I'm much too young to be an aunt." She gave me a mocking smile.

"Likewise," I threw back at her before shutting the door and walking back to where the Doctor was still standing by the mantel. It was starting to dawn on me that it was slightly creepy this man was so preoccupied with my baby pictures. On the other hand, he was an alien.

**Okay, so it might seem a little unnecessary to introduce Rory (Aurora) now, but she will make a reappearance if all goes to plan! Please tell me what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello :) As usual, thank you to my lovely reviewers and followers. Enjoy!**

"Sorry about Rory," I said, clearly breaking his train of thought. "We think she's adopted."

The Doctor spun around faster than I would've thought possible, "Rory? Did you say Rory?" There was a certain glimmer in his eyes. Was it hope?

"Yeah, it's what I call my sister."

His face fell almost immediately, "Oh." All traces of the glimmer I had seen before was gone, but before I could ask what was wrong, his face changed to a confused expression. "Why do you call her that?"

I gave him a strange look, was this a trick question? "It's short for Aurora. Why else would I call her that?"

He seemed about to answer me when he pursed his lips and said, "No reason." Very unconvincingly, by the way.

That pushed me over the edge, "Okay, that's it! You're going to cut this Jedi crap tell me what the hell you're so damn curious about because it is really starting to freak me out!"

He seemed surprised at my sudden mood change, but seemed to be getting used to that aspect of me. "I'm just curious, that's all! I'm a very curious person, why do you think I travel?"

I knew he wasn't telling me the complete truth, but I also knew he wasn't going to give me any more.

For some reason, I began to laugh. The Doctor looked completely baffled by my behavior, but I wasn't able to answer this confusion for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry," I said, slightly breathless, "It's just been a long day." It seemed like a lifetime since the Doctor and I had encountered the _homo reptilia._

The Doctor chuckled too at my words, and the tense atmosphere that had occupied my house dissipated. "Yes, speaking of a long day," he looked at his wristwatch, "I'd best be off. I have some unfinished business to attend to at the Jadoon base of operations-I never did return that memory bank..."

"Alright," I said, my fake smile faltering. I never wanted him to leave. But I supposed I didn't see any other ending to this wonderfully strange day.

He walked ahead of me towards the front door. But when he was about to touch the handle, he spun around to face me.

"You know, my ship is quite big... There's plenty of room if a person such as yourself, though I'm not suggesting anything, would ever want to... travel with me." he finished with a smile, as if he knew what my answer would be. But the question took a minute to sink in, though I'm not sure my brain was completely working with how fast my heart was pounding.

"Are you asking me to travel with you ... in your spaceship ... in _space_." At this point I was really showing off my superior human intellect.

"Yep," he said with a confident smile, "All of time and space. Ideas and people who died out thousands of years ago to those who won't be born for another billion." He waited for a moment, "Interested?"

"It travels through time too?" again, superior intellect.

He laughed a bit at this, "Yep. Did I not mention that? So, what do you think?"

The answer should've come to me instantly. This was a chance I'd always dreamed of: to escape. To escape this life that I never really had a choice in, to escape what other people thought of me. A fresh start, with the Doctor (and he was reason enough to go).

But I also thought of my sister, of what she would think when she called at my house and there was no one home. But I knew she would understand, and it was a time machine, right? I could be back in five seconds and she would never even know.

"Lily?" I looked up and realized I'd become lost in my thoughts. His smile slightly faltered like he didn't expect me to take so long to answer.

"Yes, of course!" was all I could say before laughing at the way his face lit up.

"Ha! Right then, let's get a move on!" He shouted ecstatically, grabbing hold of my hand. We flew out of the door and ran down the streets like that. Past the bakery I ate breakfast at every day, past the library which I had about five overdue books from, past my whole monotonous life. The Doctor seemed to be pulling me out of the life I knew and towards something greater. I was so happy I didn't even care that I'd left all my belongings at my house.

We finally stopped running when we reached a street corner where a few pedestrians were walking by. I glanced at the Doctor's wristwatch that was on the hand clasped in mine. How was it only 9 o'clock?

The Doctor pulled me toward a blue box in the shadows of the corner, which upon further inspection was a police call box.

"Here we are," he stated, looking expectantly at me.

I looked from him to the police box, "Did you see someone commit a crime on the way here or something?"

He laughed, "No, this is my... 'spaceship' I suppose you would call it."

Somehow this didn't really surprise me, I think I'd become immune to surprises by that point.

"I thought you said it was big, enough room for two apparently," I accused with a joking smile.

"Lily, Lily. Never judge a book by its' cover, or indeed the size of a TARDIS by her chameleon-circuit-wired appearance," and with that, he stepped through the door, pulling me along with him.

I was so wrong about not being able to be surprised anymore.

My jaw dropped open as soon as I stepped inside. It was huge, probably bigger than my entire house. And I could tell that there were multiple levels because I could see the staircase... And hallways! My brain seemed to crash at the sight of it.

"So, what do you think?" he said with a triumphant smile.

"It's... bigger on the inside." I said weakly.

"Is it? I hadn't noticed." He then proceeded to close the door behind us and ran up to the console, which was covered with colorful buttons, knobs, wheels, and devices I couldn't even name. He started to press buttons and pull levers at a seemingly random order, but I could tell he knew what he was doing.

I slowly started to walk up to him once I had regained the function of my legs. "So, where do you want to go?" He was still wearing that amused smile, so I tried to act cool- like I traveled through all of time and space on a regular basis.

"I don't know, I've never been to the universe, have I? You pick, but make it somewhere amazing."

He looked like a kid on Christmas morning when I said this, "Yes ma'am. Somewhere amazing... I know just the place," he said very mysteriously.

"Where?"

"Ah- sush." he then proceeded to place his pointer finger on my lips like he was sushing me, "It's a surprise." he answered in playful exasperation. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his tone, which made him laugh.

He finished with all his button pressing and moved in front of me, pointing to the biggest lever.

"Thrusters?" I asked him excitedly.

He nodded with a smile, "Thrusters. Would you do the honors?"

I turned on the spot very dramatically, practically bubbling with excitement (which admittedly was strange for me) and took a deep breath before pulling the lever.

The whole ship shook and thrust upwards with such force that the Doctor had to catch me before I fell onto the floor. I looked up to the roof of the ship from the Doctor's arms, before catching his eye and laughing in excitement. This was it. I was leaving everything, my friends (though they were few and far between), my family, my life, my dreams, and hopefully my visions, behind.

And I wouldn't have traded it for the world.

**This now ends part 1! She's finally in the TARDIS! But, unfortunately, I have not written any of part 2... so it might be a while before I will update this. I have it all planned out, I just have to actually write it out. So... yeah. At least it's not like Sherlock when you have to wait 2 frickin' years for the next season -_- (still pissed at Moffat) TTFN Whovians!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm ba-ack! Sorry this took a while, but I had the most severe case of writers block (and I still have it by the way) and the only reason I was able to write this chapter was because Mara mentioned something in her comment that gave me this idea... So please keep suggesting things so I can actually write something! I swear I know how it's going to end, I just need a little help getting there. A big thanks to my reviewers, especially Mara, Just a Whovian, and A Whovian, and all you Anons who I can't thank because you're anonymous... So I hope it's worth the wait!**

We had been traveling for about ten seconds when the TARDIS shuttered to a halt. Then everything was silent. I looked up at the Doctor from where we were kneeling and smiled at him in excitement. He looked at my face and began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"Your face," he said still laughing.

I laughed with him, "Wow, thank you."

He paused for a moment, "Yeah, I suppose that did come out wrong." He took a hold of my hands and pulled me to my feet, then looked towards the door. I followed his gaze.

"What's out there?"

He looked back at me, "Let's find out." Then he ran around the console, down the steps and to the door, with me in quick pursuit. He paused again beside the entrance and waited for me to face him again.

"Lily Watercreek, are you ready to see the universe?" he said this with an air of mystery, like he was just loving dragging this out. I gave him a very annoyed look, though to be honest I couldn't really pull it off with how excited I was.

"Yes! Open the door already!" I was practically bouncing on my heels.

"Your generation is so impatient," he said before he turned to the doors and, with more grandeur than I would have ever expected of him, pulled them open.

_Oh my God._

We were in space! Not just in space, but _in_ space. We were floating around in some strange, faraway galaxy. I could see stars and planets and beautiful colors that I didn't even know could exist. Looking out into it all I vaguely wondered which star Earth was revolving around...

Then I actually registered that there was nothing keeping me from being sucked into space. "Um... How are we breathing?"

He looked at me in mild surprise as if he had forgotten that there was no atmosphere. "Oh, yes. The TARDIS generates a sort of force field that keeps the air in. Quite handy for when you want a birds-eye view. Well ... a little bit higher than a birds-eye view, but you get my point."

"Wow," was all I could say. I couldn't believe it. _I was in space_.

He waved his hand in front of my face as if to snap me out of a reverie. Well, I was in a reverie- but that's beside the point. "I'm okay." I whispered. "It's just ... a lot to take in."

"Wait until you see what happens next."

"What do you-?" But then I saw what he meant. All around us, brilliant flames were flying through the sky. "Are those-"

"Meteors." He said impressively, "This is the Lunoris Meteor Shower. The most spectacular and beautiful meteor shower in recorded history. We are in the year 4682."

I thought about that for a second, "4682... I'm dead by now. Everyone I know is dead." It was such a strange thought, I couldn't really wrap my head around it.

"Well, at least your an optimist." He said sarcastically. I was pretty sure that was the first sarcastic thing I'd ever heard him say. I must've been rubbing off on him. "Oh, I almost forgot." He said quickly and ran back up the stairs, around the console, and up another flight of stairs in the back of the TARDIS.

I was curious about what he was doing, but by now I was used to not knowing what was going on in the Doctor's head. While I was waiting for him, I looked out into the meteor shower. It was the most beautiful and wonderous thing I had ever seen in my life. It was like it was raining fire- but not in an apocalyptic kind of way, it was oddly magnificent.

A few seconds later the Doctor came sprinting back to his previous position with something in his hand. It looked familiar, but it took me a minute to figure out what it was.

"A baseball mitt?" I asked incredulously, "I never figured you for the sports kind of guy."

"Hey, I've played sports. Football, a bit of rugby, and some croquet, though I'm not very good at it. This baseball mitt is the mitt I used to catch one of Babe Ruth's fly-balls in the Yankee spring training." He said proudly.

I laughed, "You played with Babe Ruth?"

"'Course I did. Who do you think first called him 'Babe'?" He then put the mitt on his left hand and reached his arm out of the doors of the TARDIS.

"What on Earth are you doing?" I asked, then I couldn't help thinking of how stupid that question sounded since we weren't, you know, on Earth.

"Just give me a second..." His face was so priceless as he said this: a look of pure concentration on his face, tongue stuck out between his teeth and everything. "Ha! Gotcha!" He pulled his slightly-singed mitt back inside the TARDIS, and in it laid a small rock.

"Happy first trip into the future, Lily." He extended his arm toward me and placed the meteor in my hand.

"Oh my God," I said with a laugh, "I'm holding a meteor... It's not radioactive or anything, is it?"

"No, of course not. Well..." he paused and thought for a moment, "if it is I can take you to a hospital where they can cure you before you die."

I nodded, "Oh good, that's comforting." I said sarcastically.

He nodded back and smiled. "So, first trip. Was is as amazing as you hoped?" He looked at me like he knew what I would say, but he still looked apprehensive of the answer.

"No, it's completely horrible - of course it's amazing! I'm in space! In the future! And, look, I even have a space rock to prove it!" I pointed to my rock and began to laugh like crazy at how extraordinary my life had become.

He laughed too, "I knew you'd love it. So, where to now?" he asked excitedly.

"We just got here! I didn't even have time to smell those roses you're so keen on passing."

"Oh, come on. What's the point in stopping? We have all of time and space at our mercy, and you want to stay in one place? I'm never going to stop moving. How 'bout you?" he smiled at me.

I gave him my usual smile back, "You're right. Okay... We came to the future, how about the past now?"

He jumped up and closed the doors, giving me one last glimpse of the Lunoris Shower. Then he took my hand that wasn't carrying a meteor and pulled me back to the console.

"I know just the place." He said with his mysterious smile. He began pressing buttons and turning knobs and stopped once again before pulling the lever that would take us back in time. I had just enough time to steady myself before he pulled the lever and the TARDIS began to shake...

**Ok, so I'm completely scientifically inaccurate because asteroids don't catch fire until they enter an atmosphere- but I'm a Whovian, I don't care about scientific accuracy! Anyway, tell me what you think and what you would like to see happen in part two ... before the fun begins (evil laugh). **


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello! As usual thank you to all my reviewers and followers- enjoy!**

"What about this one?"

The Doctor looked me over, "Lily, we are in London in 1893, you're going to have to wear something a little more old fashioned." He said this like he was explaining something completely obvious to a four year old, so of course I had to say something snippy in return.

"Well I've never been to nineteenth century London, how am I supposed to know what to wear?" I had already tried on two other dresses, and the Doctor had rejected both of them. He was insistent on me wearing traditional clothing since it was frowned upon for women to wear pants where we were going. The Doctor himself had put on a tailcoat and a top hat, but my outfit was slightly more complicated to figure out. "And, you know, you could help me pick out the right clothing instead of rejecting all of my choices."

He gave me an exasperated look before standing up from his chair and walking through the rows of clothing in the TARDIS wardrobe. The place was amazing: there were trench coats, suits, dresses from all eras, hats, shoes, sweaters, scarves, socks, and I even spotted a feather boa near the poncho collection.

A few moments later I heard a triumphant "Aha!" from somewhere in the maze of clothing and the Doctor came quickly back holding a long red dress and dropped it into my arms.

I took one look at the thing and gave the Doctor an apologetic smile, "Um ... yeah. The thing is, red isn't really my color. Is there one in blue?"

He stared at me in disbelief, "You women, there's just no pleasing you, is there?" and he went back into the mass of clothing, muttering about how he never had this problem with any of his male companions.

About twenty minutes later (it took so long because the damn thing was so hard to get into) I emerged from behind the changing screen in a floor length navy blue dress with off-the-shoulder straps and black gloves. "Well, how about this one?" I asked, and I spun around to show off the whole thing.

Whatever exasperated comment he was about to give me left him immediately, and he stared at me with his mouth open and ran his fingers through his hair like he didn't know what to do with himself.

"Careful, you'll catch flies." I chided him.

His cheeks turned a light pink color and he closed his mouth quickly, "Yes ... well. You look ..." he seemed to struggle to find the right word, "appropriate."

"Oh, Doctor. It makes me all warm inside when you get so sentimental."

He blushed a little deeper, "Oh shut up." He then took my hand and I lifted up the hem of my dress to keep up with his quick pace.

We walked quickly through the halls of the TARDIS and down the stairs to the console room. "So what's so special about 1893 anyway?"

He gave me a mischievous smile, "You'll find out soon enough. But I know you're going to enjoy it." He walked across the console towards the doors with me in quick pursuit.

"You're so confident that I'll love it?"

He paused for a moment with his hand on the door handle, "Yes." and he opened the doors.

The first thing I saw was snow, and not the pathetic excuse for snow that I usually see, but giant puffs of white that floated in the air and made the world a snow globe. The street corner we were standing on was teeming with people in outfits just like the Doctor and I, and there were shops all along the sidewalk with decorations in the windows.

"It's Christmas." I said with a laugh, "I'm in 1893. At Christmas. My life is so weird but I don't really care at the moment."

The Doctor smiled at my reaction, "If you like that, wait 'till you see what we're really here for." He then linked his arm in mine and we strolled down the street- like we did this everyday (well, he did- but that's beside the point).

We crossed the street, avoiding the old fashioned cars and horse carriages, and walked up to the window of a café. Inside I could see a variety of people drinking tea and other traditionally British things, and in a corner I saw a well-dressed man with a mustache writing on a pad of paper. He looked strangely familiar...

The Doctor followed my gaze and nodded, "Yes, him. We are here to see him."

"Who is he exactly?" I could remember seeing his face before, but I couldn't place it.

"Let's find out, shall we?" He said with a smile and took my hand to lead me into the café.

It was very warm inside, and I couldn't help but overhear people's conversations with how crowded it was. I actually almost burst out laughing when I heard someone say, "Jolly good."

We came up to the table the man was sitting at and, when he saw us, he stood up, "Ah, Doctor. How delightful it is to see you again." He shook the Doctor's hand vigorously.

"And you as well." he released the man's hand and gestured towards me, "This is my companion, Ms. Lily Watercreek. Lily, this is Arthur Conan Doyle." He waited for my reaction with an amused expression, and I'm sure I reacted just as he expected.

My jaw dropped and I looked back and forth between the two men standing in front of me: one was an amazing time-travelling alien, and the other created the world of Sherlock Holmes... Frankly I wasn't sure who I was more impressed by at the moment.

"What? Really? _The_ Arthur Conan Doyle?" I smiled at the Doctor and he gave me the same _I knew you were going to love this_ look. "I am such a huge fan of yours, the stories of Sherlock Holmes are the greatest detective stories ever. I've read every one!" At this point I was acting like an obsessed fangirl, but, let's face it, I kind of was.

"Why thank you, young lady. It is always a pleasure to meet someone who appreciates my works. Which story, if you don't mind me asking, is your favorite?"

"Oh, definitely _The Final Problem_. I think the interaction between Holmes and Professor Moriarty was extremely interesting. Of course I enjoy all of the stories, even after _The Final Problem_." I looked back at the Doctor and he gave me a warning look, like I should stop talking,

"My dear girl, I think you are confused. _The Final Problem_ was my last publication of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and I do not intend to write any more." He gave me a curious look, as if he was wondering if i was mentally stable. Oh, the irony...

"Oh..." I looked at the Doctor for help, luckily he seemed to understand what I wanted him to do.

"Yes, well now that we're all acquainted, shall we sit?" He pulled out a chair at the table and gestured me to sit in it before taking his own seat, and Arthur Conan Doyle sat across from us.

"Right you are, Doctor. It has been a fair amount of time since I saw you last." He gave him a questioning look.

"Well you know me, I never stay in one place for too long."

"Yes, and I have often wondered where you go off to."

The Doctor smiled at Doyle coyly, "I take it you received my telegraph."

That made me take my eyes of Doyle and focus on the Doctor, "Wait, you have a telegraph?"

He looked at me as if I was asking a stupid question and leaned in to whisper in my ear, "Yes, of course. The TARDIS is equipped with every form of communication from every time period in history. You can't very well Tweet-" he said this as if he had a grudge against Twitter, "-someone from the dark ages, can you?" Obviously he said this to keep Doyle from hearing about the TARDIS, but his effort was wasted since I didn't hear a word he was saying- I was too focused on how close his face was to mine.

He seemed to notice this as well and slowly moved his lips away from my ear, giving me that awkward flustered smile he always wears when something like this happens.

Doyle, to my horror, also seemed to notice and took a polite sip of his tea before interrupting our awkward moment, "Yes, I did in fact receive your telegraph, but it was over a month ago, Doctor. What could possibly have occupied you for that amount of time?" He gave me a shrewd look and took another sip of his tea. In amusement I looked at the Doctor, who seemed just as shocked as I was at his suggestion.

"Now Arthur, I don't know what you're implying, but your impropriety seems to be growing with age."

Arthur Conan Doyle laughed a bit at this, "Quite right, Doctor. It is unlike a man of my stature to speak in that way to another man. But then again, you aren't any ordinary man, are you?"

The Doctor sighed and took up a playful tone, "Ah, Arthur. Clever as always. But you know you'll never get any answers from me."

"Perhaps I won't have to, Doctor. Perhaps, like Sherlock Holmes, I shall deduce the answers to my questions."

The Doctor smiled at the challenge, "You'll at least have time to try now that you've killed off the main character in your story."

Doyle sat back in his seat, "Yes. Honestly, the whole ordeal was too much. I have been much blamed for doing that gentleman to death, but I hold that it was not murder, but justifiable homicide in self-defense, since, if I had not killed him, he would certainly have killed me. I was expected to write the equivalent of intricate novels into newspapers on a deadline. I just wasn't able to go on with it."

"That's a shame," I said to Doyle (even though I knew he would write more Holmes stories eventually), "Sherlock Holmes is my favorite literary character, I would love to see more of him in the future."

Doyle gave me an apologetic smile, "I am sorry, Ms. Watercreek, but I am afraid I am done with Sherlock Holmes for good. I am going to focus now on my other literary pursuits." He drained the rest of his tea and pulled a pocket watch out of his coat pocket. "Oh, I am sorry, Doctor, but I have an eleven thirty appointment I must make. Had you arrived when you said you would, I could have arranged more time." He scolded the Doctor.

"I know, you keep telling me to pay attention to time. But honestly there's no point because it all runs together for me." We all stood up as he said this, and the Doctor shook Arthur Conan Doyle's hand once again.

"You always say the strangest things, Doctor. I swear I will figure you out. You're just another riddle to be solved, and I have never been faced with a more difficult one."

"I have." The Doctor said more to himself, but he looked at me as he said it- so I knew he was talking about my visions. I had actually forgotten I had them since I entered the TARDIS, I was just too busy and overwhelmed to think about them.

Doyle seemed to miss the hidden meaning of his words and smiled at me, "I'm charmed to have made your acquaintance, Ms. Watercreek."

"The pleasure was all mine, Mr. Conan Doyle," I was surprised at how nineteenth century I sounded as I said this, and apparently the Doctor was too as he was barely suppressing a laugh.

We all walked out of the café but, before we could go our separate ways, Doyle told the Doctor something in private. In response the Doctor adopted the awkward flustered look I was beginning to know so well, "Impropriety, Arthur, that's all I'm saying." Was all he said before walking away from Arthur Conan Doyle and joining arms again with me. We walked back to where the TARDIS was parked and the Doctor held the door open for me.

"So, how was the past?" He said with a satisfied smile.

"Amazing! I met Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! I can't believe I just met Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!" I laughed, "How did you know I would like him so much, anyway?"

"Well when I was in your house I saw that you owned the complete collection of Sherlock Holmes and the movies also. It was just a little ... deduction." He finished with a smile.

I rolled my eyes, "Oh, you think you're so clever."

He tapped my nose with his finger, "Correct." and he ran up to the control panel in the middle of the room. "Alright then. We've done the past and future. Where's next?" he asked me, and this time I had ideas of what we could do.

"Can we meet more people? Like ... Cleopatra! Or Marilynn Monroe? Or how about Elizabeth 1! She's got to be interesting."

The Doctor looked at me uncomfortably, "Um ... no. I don't think it's a good idea for me to see those particular people... Anyone else?"

I shook my head and smiled at him, "Oh, I don't care. It doesn't matter where we go, it'll all be wonderful!"

The Doctor smiled at this, but then his face became very serious and he walked back towards me, "Lily, I haven't been completely honest with you." he paused for a moment, as if he was regretting telling me this, "Traveling with me will not always be like this- it will be dangerous. Some people have travelled with me and ... bad things have happened to them." When he finished he looked down and I could tell he really didn't want to have this conversation.

"What do you mean by 'bad things'? What happened to them?"

He looked at me sadly, "Some left me, some got left behind, and some, not many but some ... some died."

We were both quiet for a minute, and I let all of that soak in. "I just want you to know, in case you would rather go home." the Doctor said, but I didn't even have to think about my answer.

"Nah." I replied very nonchalantly. The Doctor looked surprised at the quickness of my answer, but pleased all the same.

"You're sure? Absolutely sure?"

I rolled my eyes, "What? Do you want me to say 'no'? Yes I'm sure! I've probably never been so sure of anything in my whole life! I just got a taste of the universe, and you won't be able to get rid of me that easily."

He smiled at me and, as usual, I smiled back, "Alright then, here we go."

And soon we were off into space.

**Okay, I had to make a Sherlock reference in this story eventually, so here it is! I even used a quote from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself. Anyway, now that they've had one trip into the past and future, I can get down to the good stuff! Yey sexual tensio****n! Please tell me what you think!**

**[This part is for Mara (that means if you're not Mara, don't read it!): Hello! Okay, so in one of your reviews, you said you were going to give me your email address so I could message you back. And ... I never got it- so I don't know if I just didn't get it or you changed your mind... Yeah, I swear I'm not a stalker. Please let me know because you're too awesome to not message back! Oh, and happy new year to you too :) ]**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello all! Thanks to my followers and reviewers- I give you all a cyber-hug! This is a little more of a dark fluff chapter- it doesn't have much action but it shows the growing relationship between the Doctor and Lily. Anyway, read!**_  
_

_Run. You've got to keep running. You know what'll happen if he catches you._

I ran as fast as I could across the red fields of grass that had once been my sanctuary. Now it seemed that they would be the sight of my downfall. My calves burned with the effort of my escape and my hearts beat in an increasing tempo, but I knew the pain was nothing compared to what I would face if I was captured, so I pushed on.

_How could he do this to me? Him? Hadn't we always trusted each other with_ _everything?_ I tried to reason,_ Wasn't he the person I always went to for advice, and I him?_

_But maybe that was the_ problem, my mind reasoned back,_ I trusted him too much... And now I would pay for it._

I had crossed the field and there it was, the source of all this madness. It was such a tiny thing really, and yet it was the most important. For in it lie the key to everything. Upon first glance, it was just a ring. Just a ring in the middle of a barren wasteland. Oh, how looks could be deceiving...

I sprinted even faster than before once I saw the ring, but I knew that I was already too late.

I was less than ten feet away from the ring when I heard it, and I spun around to face my attacker. Instead I saw _him_.

I could tell there were others in the background, but he was the only one that mattered, or at least the only one I cared about.

_Please don't do this_, he asked brokenly. But it was too late for me to turn back.

_You know I have to._

He sighed and stared at me with his pleading eyes. But then he stepped towards me and I was falling.

Falling... Falling through a tornado! And I was about to land on a house! Screams seemed to reverberate from the clouds themselves and my arms were restrained by something I couldn't see. My skin burned and felt like it was being peeled off, the screams stopped and I was suffocating under the pressure that was all around me.

"Lily!"

I jolted upright and fought against whatever was keeping my arms from moving, still unable to breath from the pressure. The bindings only shook and tightened their grip.

"Lily, wake up!"

I opened my eyes. It was pitch black and I could feels my arms still being restrained (by hands I could now tell), but I was no longer falling. I gasped for air and stopped fighting the hands on my wrists and they relaxed with me. Soon they left my skin altogether, then I felt them again on the sides of my face.

"Lily, are you alright? I heard you screaming," a frantic voice said inches from me. I was shivering and one of the hands moved to my forehead, but the voice said nothing else, and I certainly wasn't aware enough yet to answer it.

The same hand moved away from my face, and a few seconds later a green light accompanied by a high-pitched ringing noise lit up the face of the Doctor, who was sitting next to me on my bed. The sonic screwdriver turned the lights on, and I was able to see the whole room.

It was absolutely beautiful, and it somewhat resembled an observatory. The Doctor designed it for me within my first three days of knowing him. Whenever the TARDIS was just floating around in space, the walls of the room changed to reflect the stars outside. Sometimes I didn't even feel like I was in a room, I was just floating by myself in space...

I forced myself, very difficultly, to focus on the Doctor in front of me, but I almost immediately wished I hadn't. His face was so worried, so sad. Sometimes I saw him look at me like that from the corner of my eye, but I had never seen it so vividly as I had on the night we met. Now it was different, now it was worse. Now I was his friend.

I hated to worry him. Although I hadn't had a vision since I arrived on the TARDIS six weeks ago, I still did get frequent headaches that the Doctor seemed paranoid about (well, he never said he was worried, but I could always tell). I tried to hide it from him, and was able to most of the time, but this Timelord always seemed to be there when they happened.

And tonight was so much worse than those headaches, it felt even worse than a vision- because this time I was asleep. When I was awake, I had at least had some feeling in my body (even though most of the time it was pain). But tonight, I didn't feel like I could move my body at all. It felt like a huge weight was sitting on my chest, and I was forced to watch what was happening. Obviously I could move since the Doctor had to restrain me, but the feeling was hard to shake...

"Lily, answer me! Tell me what's wrong!" he said in even a more agitated tone than before.

It took me a minute to answer because I was still breathing heavily, "I'm okay. It was ... just a nightmare."

The Doctor gave me a disbelieving look. I couldn't really blame him, though- I'm not sure _I_ believed me. "You know lying doesn't work on me. What did you see in your vision?"

I shook my head slowly, "It wasn't a vision."

The Doctor waited for a moment to see if I would elaborate. He seemed to get impatient, however. "What do you mean, not a vision?"

"I don't know. I mean, the lack of bodily control is obviously the same, but this just ... _felt_ different. The visions were just flashes, pictures. This was a full-blown scene: costumes, dialogue, everything. It felt more like a dream or ... or a memory."

I put my head in my hands. All I wanted right now was to go back to sleep, but the Doctor wouldn't let me do that until I had told him everything. He re-adjusted his hands on my head and forced my face up to look at him.

"You have to tell me what you saw. Please, Lily,_ concentrate_. In order to figure out what's going on, we need to know all the facts." There was no way I could refuse him with that concerned expression on his face.

I paused for a moment, trying to remember everything. Unfortunately, the dream was like my visions in that I forgot them once I stopped concentrating. "I remember ... a field. And everything was red: the grass, the trees, the sky. And ... a metal ring. I was running to it like it was life or death, but then a man stopped me." I stopped, trying to remember what the man looked like.

The Doctor's face turned a shade paler as I said this, and when I didn't speak, he got impatient again, "A man? Did you know him? What did he look like?"

"Well, if you stopped being impatient and actually gave me time to think, I might be able to remember!" I felt a little bad for snapping at him, but I was so not in the mood for his unnatural inquisitiveness. He looked like he was going to say something defensive, but he stopped at the look I gave him and took his hands off my face. To be honest, I wanted them to stay there, but I would have to save that disappointment for another time.

"I did know him, in the dream. I think I knew him very well, but he ... betrayed me, I'm pretty sure. At least, it felt like he betrayed me. But I can't remember what he looked like!" I said with frustration, putting my head in my hands again. "And then we talked about something I was going to do and I fell into the ring, but ... the inside of it looked like a tornado and I was falling towards a house... And then I woke up." I left out the part about the extreme pain I experienced in the tornado- the Doctor didn't need to know about that.

We were both silent for a while once I finished telling him my dream. I looked up at the Doctor and he seemed to be thinking very hard about something, and I could tell by the lines forming between his eyebrows and his frown that it wasn't anything good.

This time I was the one who became impatient, "So, what do you think?"

I seemed to startle him out of his reverie, "Hm? Yes, well ... I think it was just a dream," he said calmly. A little too calmly, in fact.

"Really?" I said incredulously, "I get a headache and you think I'm having a vision, but when I have a psychotic meltdown during a dream, you think it's nothing?"

"Well, like you said, this obviously wasn't a vision- it's far too different from your usual symptoms. And, like a dream, it doesn't make much sense, does it? You can't fall down and suddenly be in a tornado. So yes, I think you just had a bad dream," he finished with a gentle smile.

I knew the Doctor too well to believe him, though. After six weeks of being with him, he had never once ignored such a strange occurrence, and I knew he wouldn't ignore something half as strange if it was concerning me. But I also knew that if he was lying to me, it meant he was trying to protect me from knowing what was really going on. He tried to do this before when we had first met, but I had been so desperate for the truth then that I convinced him to tell me. This time however, I didn't say that I didn't believe him, or that I wanted to know the truth. I told him that he was probably right, and we were being silly for worrying. Because the Doctor lies, and sometimes you have to lie too in order to protect him. He always thinks that he has to do everything on his own, and sometimes you have to lie to make him think that too. I was letting him have a small comfort in thinking that I wasn't worried; that I didn't think my mind was falling apart from something that had eluded the Doctor for a month, and me for thirteen years. I knew that would make him happier than actually telling me the truth and, although I desperately wanted to know what was happening to me, the Doctor was more important to me than knowing about my visions. He had become my entire life. I could honestly never remember being as happy on Earth as I was in the TARDIS, or as important. Something happened to both of us when I entered the blue box. I was no longer Lily Faith Watercreek of London, I was the Doctor's Lily. And he was my Doctor. There was a bond between us that was completely and unexplainably wonderful, and that was more important than anything. So I could wait for him to tell me on his own, rather than see the pain in his eyes now. Maybe I was foolish in doing this, but I didn't care. After all, love does make people do stupid things, maybe this was just another example of that.

He smiled at my surrender and embraced me, not in an awkward way that he had before: he was comforting me, apologizing in his own way for lying, and I let him know it was alright. I laid back down and he kissed my forehead like he always did, "I'll be back if you need me," he said and walked back towards the door, turning the lights out before he left.

I thought of the smile he had given me. _Yes_, I thought, _I can wait._

**Okay, I had to have a vision eventually- so here it is, and there will be more to come! And they sound like a married couple! I hope you liked it- please tell me what you think!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay, I know I haven't posted in a while and I feel like a bad person, so sorry. I promise to try and be more diligent for the next one. But (excuse time) me and my friend are writing a Doctor Who musical, so I have to write all the lyrics and the script, and I'm also writing a book and I have midterms. There, those are my excuses- but I promise I will finish this story if it kills me! (though hopefully it won't go that far) Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers and followers who still read the story! I know it's been a little slow lately, but I promise that will change in the next chapter! Enjoy!**

"Doctor have you seen my jumper?" I shouted into the control room of the TARDIS.

"Which one?" He shouted back, "The blue one or the striped one?"

"Blue." I noted the fact that he knew what my jumpers looked like.

"It was on the console last I saw it," he replied. I jogged into the control room, but he wasn't there. I could've sworn that his voice came from here. I saw my jumper and skipped down the steps to the console.

As I put it on, I heard a muffled grunt from somewhere beneath me, "Doctor?" I walked around the console to make sure he wasn't just hiding from me, which I have known him to do on occasion. I swear, he acted like a five-year-old sometimes...

"Doctor, where are you?"

"Down here." I looked down and saw the Doctor sitting on a swing beneath the glass floor of the console. I laid down on my stomach and propped myself up on my elbows.

"What on Earth are you doing down there?" I tried to sound serious, but it came out as more of a laugh.

He looked up at me from his swing wearing a pair of big, old-fashioned goggles, "Come and see. It's that staircase," he pointed me in the right direction.

I went down the stairs and saw the Doctor sitting in what looked like the engine of the TARDIS, if that's what you could even call it. It consisted of hundreds, maybe thousands, of wires hanging from the ceiling (or floor, whatever) and in the center was a large computer matrix. The Doctor looked up from the wires he was holding and gave me his usual smile.

"I guess you found it, then," he said, gesturing to my jumper.

"Yep. Whatcha doin'?" I said, sitting down on the stairs.

"Well, if you want to know I'm re-wiring the TARDIS' mainframe to compensate for the severe power loss we sustained. I'll have to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow so that the protons won't collapse on the nucleus, but it should be ready soon."

I just stared at him blankly as he said this, "Spacey-wacey?"

He looked up from his wires and laughed, "Yes, it's spacey-wacey. Remember when I had to delete some of the rooms in the TARDIS to get more energy so we could escape that Sycorax armada?"

I smiled at the memory, I always got somewhat of a high from the danger we sometimes got wrapped into, "Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, I had to delete the library and you were upset about that. So I'm building you a new one."

I smiled even wider at him, "Aw, really? That's so sweet."

He blushed a bit at this, "Oh, shut up. Luckily I didn't have to delete your room, bedrooms are always harder to program for some reason."

Suddenly a thought occurred to me, "Doctor, do you have a room?" He must have one, right? I mean he had to sleep sometime.

"That's a little forward, isn't it? You have to at least buy me a drink first." Oh yes, my sarcasm had definitely rubbed off on him.

"Well we have lived together for almost three months. I think we passed forward about seven galaxies ago."

He grinned and plugged another wire into the matrix, "Point taken... There you are, you have your library back. Good as new. Isn't that right, old girl?" he said, rubbing the matrix affectionately. I was used to this by now, the Doctor talked to his TARDIS almost on a daily basis. I guessed that's who he talked to when he didn't have a companion around. I swore then that I would never leave him, neither of us would ever have to be alone again.

I was looking at the Doctor when suddenly a white-hot pain flamed across my head and I lost control of my body. My hands grabbed my forehead and I arched my back on the stairs as the fiery pain poured down my spine. From somewhere in the back of my mind I heard someone shouting and my arms were pinned to my sides, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was what I was seeing.

It was a ship, not like the Doctor's though, it was the largest thing I had ever seen. I was walking through all the hallways and there were pictures on the wall. Everything got faster and I was sprinting to get to the end, I had to do it- it was a matter of life and death! I wouldn't be able to hold on much longer! I opened the door to the room with the symbol on the wall, but she wasn't there. "No!" I heard someone scream. And then the eyes, those horrible red eyes came and the pain became unbearable. By whole body was on fire and the world was pushing down on my chest. I tried to run and fight, but the eyes swallowed me...

"No! No, let me go!" I screamed at the invisible force on my chest, but it was less painful than it was before- as if it was more of a memory.

"Lily! Lily, it's just me!" The Doctor shouted to me, shaking my shoulders. My eyes focused on him kneeling over me with a worried expression on his face.

But all the emotion from the vision was still with me, and I wasn't sure what was real anymore. "Please, please don't let it get me," I begged the Doctor, "I don't want to go."

The Doctor's face changed into the most devastated expression I had ever seen him wear, "You're not going anywhere, I promise. I won't let anything happen to you." He moved closer and wrapped his arms around me, and my head rested in the crook of his neck. I couldn't remember what had made me so scared, but it had clearly been horrible since tears were now silently falling down my cheeks. "It's okay," he whispered to me before kissing my head.

"I ... uhm ..." I pulled away from the Doctor to try and clear my head, although everything was still extremely fuzzy, "I need ... paper and pen," I said, explaining what I meant by motioning with my hands.

The Doctor seemed to understand and nodded before running up the stairs behind me. While he was gone, I cradled my head between my knees, trying to remember what I saw. There was a ship, a big ship. And hallways and a room with a symbol on the wall. And someone wasn't there which made me scared- then the eyes came for me... But that was it. The only detail I could remember with any clarity was the symbol, so I focused on that until I heard the Doctor return to my side.

"Here," he said, handing me the pen and paper. I took it and drew the symbol that I had focused on: a pentagram inscribed in a circle with a swirl in the center. I finished and handed him the paper.

"That was on a wall in a spaceship."

He gave me a confused look, "On a wall in a spaceship? Well that's extremely vague and unhelpful, anything else?"

I shook my head, "Nothing that important. I was running through the halls looking for someone, and when I didn't find them, I saw the eyes."

"The same eyes, the ones you drew at your house?"

I nodded, "It's so strange, my visions used to just be flashes of images. You know, planets and Daleks and all that. Now they're like movies. My dream, this- it's like I'm experiencing them rather than viewing them." I looked at him questioningly.

He shook his head, looking at the symbol, "Oh, Lily Watercreek, you are an extremely difficult riddle to solve," he smiled at me.

I smiled back, "And here you thought this would be easy."

"No, I never thought it would be _easy_. But I will figure you out, I swear. I never give up on a challenge. Look at the chicken and the egg. I am the only one to successfully prove that the chicken did indeed come first," he looked at me with a smug expression on his face.

I rolled my eyes at him, he was always telling me strange little stories about his escapades through history, although I did still seriously doubt that he found an arc of dinosaurs on a spaceship. That was a little far-fetched, even for him.

"Do you recognize it?" I asked pointing to the paper.

He seemed to deflate some, "No. I've seen some symbols like it, but never this. I'll scan it into the TARDIS mainframe so she can look for matches." He ran up the stairs again to the TARDIS console. I tried to keep up with his pace but my body still wasn't fully functional and I could feel a bruise forming on my back from me thrashing around on the stairs.

"Where to now?" he asked me with a smile, feeding my drawing into a machine in the console, "We could go to the first human landing on another inhabited planet... Or we could go to the Diamond Waterfall on Haven, where all the water is crystalized into precious gems... Oh! I know! We could go to the holographic beaches on planet Saufric! They can literally read your desires and create the perfect vacation for you!"

"Actually, I'm gonna go back to bed," I said, much to the dismay of the Doctor.

His mouth literally dropped open, "Bed?! You just got out of bed! Oh, you humans! Is that all you do, sleep?"

"Hey, I know you like to insult species, but take it easy. I'm not exactly fit for traveling after all that, I'm honestly shocked I can still stand."

He gave me a very exasperated expression, but I knew he wouldn't argue any more. Whenever it came to my health, the Doctor was always very serious. "Oh, fine. But then I am taking you on an adventure and don't you try and stop me!" He turned his back to me and began doing mechanical things to the TARDIS that I will probably never understand.

"Of course not, I could never refuse the Oncoming Storm," I said with a smirk as I walked up the stairs to my room, and I could practically hear the smile he gave me.

I walked into my room and crawled into my bed, but I seriously doubted if I could ever sleep with that feeling the vision left me, and I could still picture those eyes...

* * *

A few hours later, I walked back into the main room of the TARDIS, only to find the Doctor still working on the console. _Did the man ever sleep?_

He looked up when he heard me coming, "Feeling better, are we?"

"Yeah, much. Just needed to recharge a little, that's all." We were both silent for a moment before I decided to say what I had been thinking of all night.

"Doctor?" he turned to face me at my tone, "Can you take me home?"

The Doctor stiffened and his face looked like a combination of hurt and confused before he composed himself, "Of course. I understand, especially after what just happened to you. I was foolish to bring you along with me. Your life was complicated enough before I put you in so much danger. Of course I will take you home," he finished with a smile, but it seemed too fake, too rehearsed. Then I realized what he thought I meant.

I slapped his shoulder, "No, idiot. Of course I don't want to _go_! I just want a visit! Homesickness _is_ a thing, you know!"

The Doctor's face immediately lit up into that childish smile I loved so much, "Oh, good. I was not okay _at all_ with you leaving." He turned to the TARDIS console and began to press all the buttons, knobs, and wheels that I still didn't know what controlled.

"Next stop-" he pointed at the lever that he knew I loved to pull.

"London!" I shouted as I pulled it down and the TARDIS began to shake again...

**Okay, again I promise the next chapter will have more action in it, but I have to write these ones because they're important to the story line... Anyway, if anyone wants to give me a cool alien for them to meet in the next chapter please tell me because I love ideas! Please tell me what you think!**

**[To Mara: I still didn't get it! I got all your reviews but the email was never there, you might have to message it to me.]**

**[To all my other reviewers: I love you all so much and I feel bad that I keep just singling out Mara but we are having technical difficulties and this is the only way I can get back to her. Please don't feel under appreciated! I give you all an internet hug! (unless you aren't into that kind of thing...)]**


	13. Chapter 13

**I lied! I said this chapter would be out soon and here we are more than two weeks later- oops! I really am sorry, but this chapter was hard to write for some reason. Thank you to all of my amazing reviewers and followers! Enjoy!**

"Well we _finally_ made it," I said as I walked out of the TARDIS and took in the familiar London street scene before me.

The Doctor gave me an exasperated look, "We were only a _little_ off."

"How is Tampa, Florida even close to London?"

"Well, I didn't hear _you_ complaining while you were sun-bathing," he snapped back with a smile. Oh, no- when I saw that smile, I knew it was over. How could I possibly argue with that smile? He seemed to notice my surrender, and that only made him smile wider. Pretty soon we was gonna get a big head...

He looked away and motioned to the street in front of us, "Welcome home, Lily."

I looked around and laughed to myself. _Home_. That was a strange word to describe this place. Sure, it was where I had lived my whole life, but it was never really a home. Home is where you are accepted, loved. London didn't represent anything to me but judgement and disdain. Even with my family I was never really accepted. Sure, Rory tried to protect me from bullies and I loved her more than anyone else in the world, but my parents were a completely different matter. I swear the happiest day of my life was when I moved out and got a place of my own.

The only place I felt truly safe was by the Doctor's side, and I didn't care if it was dangerous. I would take homicidal aliens over superficial grade school bullies any day. And the Doctor was the only one who actually _tried_ to help me. I mean, I'd had plenty of psychiatrists and doctors who tried to fix it, but the Doctor was the only one who cared enough to try and figure out what caused my crazy. Suddenly I had to rethink my use of the word "homesick". This trip was more of a walk down memory lane, I was leaving my real home behind...

"You alright?" The Doctor seemed to notice how preoccupied I was with my thoughts.

"Yeah," I said, forcing a smile, "it's just strange, you know? After everything I've seen, to be back in a place where everything is so... normal. None of these people know what lies just beyond the sky. None of them actually know that aliens exist. I can't believe I was once like that." I looked at all the people on the street. They were all so absorbed in their own lives that they couldn't see what was right in front of them. A blue telephone box had just appeared out of thin air for God's sake and they still didn't notice.

I heard him laugh and looked back at him in confusion, "What?"

He laughed again, "You certainly sound like a time traveler."

I laughed with him, "How can they not _see_?"

He shrugged, "Because they aren't ready to," he answered the confused look I gave him, "Think of how they would react if they found out I was an alien: they would probably try to dissect me. Not that they could, of course, but that's not the point. They're not ready to share their universe yet. Some part of them still wants to be alone, to be the chosen race. They think that being the only life forms makes them important. If they're just one species out of thousands, they're nothing special. But that's not true: in a thousand years of time travel I've never met someone who wasn't important. Until they can figure that out, they won't see."

We both paused for a moment, thinking. "Well, that's enough philosophy for today, don't you think? Let's get you back home!" He gave me a wild grin and took my hand, then pulled me off the curb and across the street, barely dodging a cab in the process.

"Are you late for something?" I said as he slowed us down to a walk, moving my arm to interlock with his.

"You know me, I don't like to spend too much time in one place."

"Oh, yes. I do recall you saying something like that when we were locked in the Tower of London. That is, before you suggested to King Henry VIII that he take me as his bride." I still hadn't forgiven him for that.

"You know as well as I do that it was the only way to distract him long enough to get to the TARDIS. And the ceremony wasn't even over, so you're technically not married to him."

"It was Henry _VIII_."

"Yeah, I'm not a big fan either, but it worked, didn't it?" I rolled my eyes as we turned the corner to my street. In a few minutes we were at my door; for some reason I was amazed that it looked exactly the same, when I had changed so much.

I opened the door (it was still unlocked like I had left it) and stepped inside, the Doctor right behind me. I walked through the familiar hallway into the kitchen when I heard the sound of something shattering. Before I could turn to see what caused the noise, a great weight slammed into me and arms wrapped around my neck in a grip that would impress a boa constrictor.

"You're back!" a strangled voice said at my ear. Slowly the arms loosened their grip around my neck and hands pushed my shoulders back, revealing the tear-streaked face of my sister.

She looked a wreck: her disheveled hair was falling out of a pony tail, her eyes were red and puffy, and she looked as if she hadn't slept properly in days. At the moment, however, she looked like the happiest person on Earth. That is until her eyes clouded over and she suddenly looked like she wanted to murder me.

"Where the _hell_ have you been?!" Rory practically screamed this, causing both the Doctor and I to jump in surprise.

She looked at me expectantly when I didn't answer her, "I uhm... Well ... I-I've been traveling," I finished lamely.

"'Traveling'?" she repeated incredulously, "'_Traveling_'?! And you didn't think to call or flash a bat-signal or _anything_?!" At this point, saying I was confused was an understatement: I couldn't even fathom why she was so angry. I mean, I had only been gone for a few hours, right? _Right?_

I looked at the Doctor, but before I could even ask the question on my tongue, Rory (who suddenly seemed to notice his existence) turned her fury onto him. "And _you_!" she pointed an accusatory finger at him and began advancing dangerously in his direction, "What did you do to her?! You're here for ten minutes and suddenly she's all keen to pull a Houdini!" By the time she was finished, she had the Doctor backed against the wall, her finger pushing threateningly into his chest.

I got a horrible pit in my stomach. Rory wouldn't be this upset unless I had been gone for a while- a lot longer than I had thought anyway...

"Rory!" I managed to squeeze myself between her and the Doctor, "Rory it's okay, I'm fine! How long have i been gone, exactly?"

She looked at me like I had just sprouted a second head, but seemed to know that I was being serious, "Three weeks."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"_Three weeks!_" My jaw dropped and I looked at the Doctor with a mix of confusion and fury, "You said it would be twelve hours _tops_!"

The Doctor jumped when I started shouting at him, and looked a little worried now that both sisters were yelling at him. "Oops," he mumbled with an unconvincing smile, "If it makes you feel any better, three weeks is not the farthest I've been off. Actually, you should be grateful I got you back within the same month."

"What the hell are you two talking about?" Rory demanded before I could begin shouting again.

Luckily the Doctor came to my rescue, "Aurora, we were just-"

"No!" God, she was scary sometimes. "I don't want you to breathe a word until I decide whether or not I'm going to kill you! Lily, tell me where you've been!" She looked at me with pleading eyes. How could I lie to her after all I'd put her through? Then again, how could I possibly tell her she had just threatened to murder a time-traveling alien?

"Rory, the Doctor and I went traveling on ... a holiday. We just lost track of time, that's all."

She still looked far from convinced. "A _holiday_? With _him_? You only just met the man and all of a sudden you ... Oh!" realization seemed to dawn on her face, "Oh... So you ... did you..." she seemed to struggle for the right word, "Elope?"

I could practically feel the blood rise in the Doctor's face as it drained from mine. "What?"

"No, of course not-"

"That's completely-"

"Not making that mistake again-"

"We're just _friends_," I clarified, "He offered to take me on an adventure and I said yes. I just needed to ... get away, I suppose." I looked into her eyes with completely sincerity, because technically I wasn't lying, and she finally seemed to believe me.

Rory nodded to herself, "Alright, I get it. But ever do that to me again and I _will_ hit you." The look on her face was so fierce I wasn't even tempted to make a sarcastic remark.

"I know you will."

She seemed satisfied with my response and turned away, only to give the Doctor a look I was sure would curdle milk. "_You_ are _so_ not off the hook."

The Doctor nodded in understanding, "Got it."

"Good," she looked back at me, her eyes sad, "Mum and Dad have been worried."

I let out a humorless laugh, "I seriously doubt that. They were probably just worried that someone would break into the house and steal some of their stuff while I was gone."

Rory shook her head, "That's not true, you know they love you."

"They sure have a funny way of showing it," I deadpanned. Rory had always tried to bridge the gap between our parents and I, but it never really worked since I was such an unwilling participant.

An awkward silence filled the kitchen. I just realized with horror that the Doctor had just heard all of my family problems in a nutshell, something that I had been careful to avoid telling him about in the past. _Oh well_, I thought to myself, _it was bound to come up eventually_...

"So..." The Doctor started in a valiant attempt to break the tension, "Aurora, what do you do for a living?" I could tell he was trying to steer the subject away from our disappearance and other uncomfortable territories, but Rory still gave him the best icy stare she could muster.

"I could ask you the same question _Doctor_, if that's even your real name. Sounds like the name of a drug dealer or kinky porn star to me."

I knew it was really inappropriate, but I couldn't help the ridiculous snort of laughter that escaped my lips. The image of the Doctor as a porn star was just too ridiculous _not_ to laugh at. I mean, come on, the man practically turned into an awkward pre-pubescent boy whenever you so much as flirted with him. Then again, he must've had sex at some point ... he was 1200 years old. And he has mentioned being married or betrothed before... The Doctor having _sex_. That was one of the strangest thoughts I had ever fostered, but I couldn't deny the little backflip my stomach gave at the somewhat explicit mental image it gave me. The Doctor ... having _sex._

_Mind out of the gutter, Lily._

I snapped myself back to reality only to find the other two occupants of the room staring at me. I cleared my throat and struggled to put a serious look on my face, "Rory, stop, it's not his fault. It was my choice to make so if you're going to get pissy at anyone, it should be me. But can we please just move on and forget about this whole mess?" I realized when I was saying this that I was going to have to leave Rory again, and I shoved the thought to the back of my mind. _We'll cross that bridge when we get there_.

She looked a little taken aback but nodded, "Sorry," she mumbled somewhere in the direction of the Doctor.

"It's not your fault," he said with an understanding look, "You have every right to be upset with me. I'm the one that should say sorry." He said this with a face so sincere I could practically see Rory's animosity breaking.

She kept a resolute face for a few seconds until she let out a sigh, "You're really hard to stay mad at, you know?"

The Doctor stood up straighter and fixed his bowtie with a satisfied grin on his face- a tell tale sign that Rory was boosting his ego.

"Don't encourage him," I warned her, rolling my eyes.

"No, Lily, let her talk." The Doctor said and turned back to Rory expectantly.

Rory chuckled and faced me, "I see why you like him. You two ... suit each other."

And thank you Rory for making everything awkward again. She really had a talent at that.

"Rory, do you have an off switch?" I asked, color rising in the cheeks of both the Doctor and I.

She pretended to think for a moment, "No, not really." She then proceeded to skip around the kitchen table to the fridge, where she pulled out a bottle of water, "Either of you want something?" _Oh, great. She's trying to be domestic with the Doctor._

"No, thanks," I interjected before the Doctor had time to respond. "I actually need to ... check on a few things upstairs. Come on," I added to the Doctor, pulling on the lapel of his jacket. Rory made a noise of acknowledgment in our general direction, and I could feel her eyes boring a hole into the back of my head as we left. I lead the Doctor through the familiar living room, up the stairs, and into my room (which Rory would surely hold over my head until the end of time).

"What are we up here for?" The Doctor asked with the mild curiosity of a child. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms.

I looked at him with a fetching smile, "I thought that would've been obvious. You know: you, me, bedroom." I motioned around the room, my smile growing wider at the look on the Doctor's face. Over the months, the Doctor had grown more accustomed to my faux advances, but he still showed some of the initial awkwardness I loved. "I need to pack some of my stuff for when we get back to the TARDIS, what did you think I was insinuating?" I was pretty sure my grin could not get any wider.

He rolled his eyes, "Fair enough, I didn't really give you time to pack last time, did I?"

"No you didn't. I didn't even have enough time to lock my door. You were just too eager to take me on an adventure."

He scoffed, "I think you were a little eager too."

"True," I admitted with a laugh.

We were silent for a moment while I gathered a few things. I heard the phone ring downstairs and Rory answered it. "You said to Aurora that you needed to 'check on a few things upstairs'- cleverly avoiding having to tell her that you are packing a bag and planning on leaving again," he looked up to catch my eye, "Are you planning on telling her? Or are you just so confident in my time-travel skills that you don't think it's necessary to tell her?"

I sighed. I really didn't expect the Doctor to catch what I had said, or rather, _not_ said to Rory, and I especially didn't expect him to call me out on it. It seemed very out of character for him to show much concern for Rory, or maybe he just wanted to avoid being bitched out next time he met her.

"I'll tell her, I just didn't want to do it so soon after her little tantrum."

The Doctor thought about that for a moment, "Yes, I suppose that was for the best. You know, for a moment I actually thought she was going to hit me." His forehead crumpled as he remembered that moment, "She's scary sometimes, and that's coming from me. I've faced murderous Daleks, and I'm afraid of your big sister. I'm not sure if 'The Oncoming Storm' suits me anymore."

I had to stop my packing because I was laughing so hard. It was completely true, of course. "You didn't have to grow up with her- she was even worse as a kid. But what do you expect? She's like a momma bear, and you're like a hunter who stole her cub and took it to travel all of time and space."

"I think there's a slight hole in the continuity of that metaphor..."

"And you're not very well-rehersed in domestics, are you?"

He sat up straight and fixed his bowtie, which he did whenever he was insulted, complemented ... or breathing. "Well, I might be a bit rusty after a thousand years- which is why I usually avoid them," he said this as he began looking through my closet, too impatient to continue standing in the doorway (honestly I was surprised he lasted that long), "You're lucky I didn't just drop you off here and go somewhere on my own."

I rolled my eyes and started to walk behind him, a playful smile tugging at my lips, "Oh, come on, you would've missed me and you know it. And being domestic isn't _all_ bad. Like if I did _this_-" I poked both of my pointer fingers into either side of the Doctor's waist- a spot I had learned from experience was ticklish.

"No! Lily, stop- ah! Stop it!" He shouted between fits of laughter as I completely attacked him. I didn't even know why I was doing it, the idea was just too fun to resist!

The Doctor turned towards me and jabbed his fingers at my waist, then my neck- which completely disarmed me and before I knew it a full-scale tickle war had commenced in my bedroom, with both of us fighting to subdue the other into torrents of laughter. Soon, both of us had sunk down onto the floor because we couldn't stand anymore.

"Ah! Stop it!"

"You first!"

"You started it-"

"Ehem." The voice of my sister cut through the bouts of screaming and laughter that had filled my bedroom and I looked up to see her standing in the doorway, barely concealing laughter of her own. "Am I interrupting something?" She asked with a smile that clearly insinuated something I would later hit her for.

"Not at all," I said, standing up from the floor, the Doctor quickly following my lead and straightening his bowtie (again). "We were just talking."

"Uh-huh."

She was still wearing that sly smile, so I searched for anything that would change the subject from the obvious innuendos she would soon be making, "So ... who called?"

That seemed to do it- the question wiped the smile off her face in less than a second. She looked at her feet and shuffled uncomfortably under my stare.

Oh, no. Anything that could make Rory act like that was something I knew I wouldn't like, "Rory, who was it?" I asked with a little more urgency.

"Um ... Mum and Dad, actually."

Rory looked up at me and I completely froze. I knew where this was going, "You didn't?" I asked her with horror.

She hesitated, biting her lip. "They're coming over."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

**The Doctor gets to meet the parents! That should go over well, right? **

**Yeah, sorry. I know I promised action, but fluff just came out instead. And a tickle fight ... I don't even know where that came from- but oh well! There will _definitely_ be action while they're in London, but not in the next chapter (at least not the alien kind anyway). And sorry if this chapter seems a little rushed but I'm having oral surgery in like an hour and wanted to finish this chapter before I get all crazy from the meds... so the next chapter might be a little messed up if I write while medicated. Thank you all for being patient!**

**Please tell me what you think!**

**(Mara: Still nope :/ )**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello, I'm alive! This chapter may seem a little off (well, it does to me, anyway) because I'm writing it while medicated (Yey meds!)- so ... yeah. As always, thank you to my lovely reviewers and followers who literally make my life amazing and give me inspiration to keep writing! 3**

"Rory, what the hell?!" I shouted as I dropped my head into my hands, "Didn't we _just_ talk about this not ten minutes ago? What did you even tell them?"

She looked up at me with pleading eyes, "Lily, they're your parents, they have the right to know-"

"Like hell they do! Do you even _remember_ what they-"

"Of course I remember, Lily!" she spit back at me, anger flaring dangerously in her eyes, "How could I ever forget! But it happened, and you can't change that! All you can do is accept it and try to move on!"

"Well, I might be able to if they stopped treating me like a freak!"

"Um-" The Doctor cut in awkwardly, causing both of us to turn to him in anger, "Should I -?" he motioned to the doorway.

"No!" We both shouted at the same time before turning back to each other.

"Why do you always have to do this?! Why can't you leave well enough alone!?" I asked defeatedly.

"Because I'm _determined_ to keep this family together!" She took a deep breath to calm herself before speaking again, "Look, I'm not saying I think what they've done is _right_- because it isn't- but they are your family. And that means something to me even if it doesn't to you."

_Oh, great- she's playing the guilt card._ "Rory, you're wrong. I do care about family," I stepped closer to her and put my hands on her shoulders, looking right into her eyes with the greatest sincerity I could possibly muster, "But _you're_ my family. _You_ practically raised me, not them. I came back to see _you_, not them," I dropped my arms to my sides, "_Please_ don't make me do this."

She looked down and to the left with her eyes the saddest I have ever seen them, "I'm sorry," she said brokenly, not meeting my eyes for shame, "It's out of my hands now. They're already on their way already for dinner."

I sighed and turned away from her, avoiding the Doctor's gaze and looking out the window at the street below. I could run. I could take the Doctor's hand and drag him down the street and fly away in the TARDIS, never looking back. Everything would be fine: I could forget my miserable life on Earth and travel with the Doctor until the day I died.

I finally turned away from the Earth scene in the window to look at the Doctor. He had run too. Even though he insisted that he was running _to _the universe, I knew at least part of him was running away from what he'd done on Gallifrey. Is that what we would be if I left now too? Just two people running from their past in a blue box? _No, _I thought to myself, _I'm tired of running_. I had run from my parents for more than ten years now, and what had that accomplished? Nothing, that's what- except of course making Rory miserable. If I faced my demons now, I wouldn't have to do it again. Of course, this reasoning was being fought by my severe desire to never see my parents again.

"Lily?" The Doctor asked in a concerned voice.

I snapped out of my reverie and my eyes focused on him before I faced my sister again, "Dinner, huh?"

Rory let out a breath she seemed to be holding for a very long time. She smiled sheepishly and nodded.

I nodded back, "Well, I hope they don't bring beans. Lord knows he won't eat any," I pointed in the direction of the Doctor, only to earn a very shocked and confused look from him.

He looked between Rory and I, "What? You're making _me _stay now?"

I smiled at his reaction, "Oh, yeah. If I have to do it, so do you. Do I have to remind you that this is all your fault for bringing me back late?"

He sighed in resignation, "Fine, but you owe me."

I smiled nervously at him, _I'm going to have to introduce the Doctor to my parents._

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Ding-dong_

_Oh, God!_

_This was a horrible decision..._

The Doctor looked down at me from his position at my side and seemed to sense my distress. He interlocked his fingers in mine and squeezed it in encouragement, "It's going to be fine. People love me," he said with a self-satisfied grin.

I gave him a look of disbelief, "You've never met my parents."

"Oh, come on. They've raised you, how bad can they be?" He gave me a heart-warming smile and watched as Rory walked towards the door.

She opened the door and I cringed as I heard my parents' voices, "Oh, Aurora, we're so glad you found her. Is she alright?" My mother's voice asked in worry.

"Yes, she's fine," I could hear footsteps coming towards us in the hallway and I unhappily released the Doctor's hand, "She just lost track of time, that's all."

I could hear them rounding the corner, "Well, that doesn't sound like our-" My mother came into view at the entrance to the living room and stopped dead at the sight of the Doctor and I. "Oh! I suppose that explains it," she exclaimed with an understanding nod.

My father appeared at her side and heaved a heavy sigh of disapproval, "Yes, unfortunately it does." He began to glare at the Doctor.

My mother was a little shorter than Rory and I, and had the exact same blond colored hair that Rory had (and that I used to have). She had light grayish-blue eyes and a slightly curvy frame that all the women in the family shared. My father, on the other hand, stood a little taller than the Doctor and had light brown hair with deep brown eyes. The way he was glaring at the Doctor made him look more like a hungry falcon than a human at the moment...

"I believe we haven't been properly introduced," The Doctor said to my parents, taking a step forward, "My name is the Doctor." He held out his hand and my father took it, not breaking eye contact with him.

"I'm Harold and this is my wife, Jeanette." He waved in the direction of my mother, who then shook the Doctor's hand.

"Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you both. I've heard so much about you." Which of course was a complete lie, but the Doctor said with the upmost sincerity. Over the months, I had learned that he was a very good actor and that rule #1 was: the Doctor lies, but I honestly couldn't tell if he was being sincere at the moment about being glad to meet them. My parents at least seemed convinced, though.

"Yes, well I wish I could say the same about you," my father said with a forced grin.

I could tell this was going to get very awkward, very fast, "Mum, what did you bring for dinner?" I asked, pointing to the aluminum foil wrapped container in her arm.

"Just some leftover pork and bean stew."

I nodded, "Of course it is."

I said this more to myself, but my mother seemed to hear my aversion to beans and take it as a personal insult, "Well, I would've had time to make something else if you had told us you were coming back, or kept in any contact with us at all," my mother's gaze turned to ice as she looked me in the eyes, clearly conveying the message that me taking off was definitely _not _okay.

_This is going to be a long night_...

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"So Doctor tell me, what do you do for a living?" We were all sitting at the dining room table, my parents on either end and the Doctor and I sitting across from Rory. We all had a bowl of bean stew in front of us, and the Doctor broke his slightly disgusted gaze from the bowl and looked at my father.

"I travel," he stated simply, "I go everywhere and anywhere. I never stop, really," he laughed a little.

"You ... _travel_ for a living?" My mother always struggled with ideas that challenged the sanity of her perfect world.

"Yes." After this the table fell silent, except of course the occasional scraping of cutlery against the bowls. The Doctor was really making a valiant effort of eating the beans, and I shot him an apologetic smile. At least he didn't call my mother's beans "evil" as he usually would.

"And so you decided to take Lily to travel with you? As a ... ?" My father left the question open for the Doctor to answer.

"Companion," he answered quickly.

"Companion," my father repeated, a false smile plastering his face, "Is that what they're calling it these days?"

"Dad," Rory said harshly in a warning tone.

"What?" he asked in frustration, setting down his silverware, "It's a reasonable assumption- we're all thinking it. Forgive me if I'm a bit upset that this _stranger_ is taking advantage of my daughter!"

_Well, that escalated quickly._

"Dad, stop it!" I slammed down my silverware too.

"No!" my mother cut in this time, "Your father's right, Lily: why would you run off with him? You just met the man and you chose him over your own family!"

"It was my decision to go with him! I'm an adult, remember? I can actually decide for myself!"

My dad stood up in frustration and placed his palms on the edge of the table for emphasis, "No, you can't! That's your problem: your mind plays tricks on you! You can't think straight, Lily, you're sick!" My father's eyes saddened as he said this, but nothing could've helped my sympathize with him about it. For over a decade I had taken their crap about wanting to protect me, and I was never going to take it again.

"There it is!" I said with a mirthless laugh as I stood up as well, "There it is! You know, Dad, I'm not _actually_ insane!"

"Well, you could've fooled me," he shot back, not missing a beat, "You know what the doctors said, Lily!"

"You're gonna take the _doctor's _side on this?! They don't know _anything_! Why can't you just let me control my own life?" I looked between both my parents as I said this, and vaguely registered that the Doctor was very awkwardly trying to make himself invisible in the chair beside me. I wondered what this scene would've looked like to him: my father and I standing up facing each other, my mother sitting back in her chair like she was waiting until we got it out of our system, and Rory in her chair with her head in her hands. It wasn't so strange to me since I had grown up like this, but I couldn't imagine the position I was putting the Doctor into.

My dad shook his head and looked down, "Why can't you understand? We're just trying to do what's best for you!"

"I don't care!" I smiled. Getting this off my chest made me feel the best I'd felt in years. "I'm going to do what _I_ want now! And what I want is to travel with him!" I pointed at the Doctor without looking at him, "And if you can't deal with that, then get out."

My parents looked shocked at my demand, and honestly I was probably more shocked than they were. But that didn't mean I didn't mean it. I felt as if I had just had a psychological breakthrough or something. Suddenly, I was glad I came to see my family, if even it was just to set my parents straight. All the pent-up angst and animosity I'd built against my parents was finally being released and I'd never felt so _free_. _  
_

"Fine," my father said, his tone dangerous, "Come on, Jeanette."

My mother stood and opened her mouth to protest, "Harold-"

"We're leaving," he interrupted with a note of finality. My mother stood with a defeated expression and avoided my gaze as she passed me on her way out. No one said a word as they left, or even after the door slammed with a definite _click_.

"Well," I said after an awkward silence, finally sitting back in my chair, "that went better than I expected."

It was silent again, but I could feel a faint movement on my shoulder coming from the Doctor and was surprised to see him shaking in suppressed laughter.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm laughing," he apologized, letting a small chuckle escape his lips.

I heard laughter erupt from across the table and looked up to see that Rory was giggling as well. I couldn't help but start to laugh too as she struggled to speak due to lack of oxygen, "That was ... so _horrible_." She became caught in a fit of laughter again, "Did you see their faces?"

By this time I was balled up in my seat with my hands wrapped around my stomach from laughing so hard, "Well, congratulations, Doctor. You just survived your first domestic."

"Oh, believe me, that wasn't my first. It was certainly the worst, though," he said smiling.

"Well, that's us Watercreeks for you: we always strive to be the most memorable."

"That I already knew," he said earnestly, looking straight into my eyes. Suddenly, the whole world seemed to stop. I had a sweeping urge to close the gap between us like I had last time we were in this house together. But it had been so short then, so unappreciated. I didn't feel for him then like I did now, and could you blame me? Here he was, sitting in my dining room after witnessing a shouting match between my parents and I and he wasn't running. He didn't even want to be here but he came ... for me. I knew I would do anything for him, but it was only now that I realized he would do the same for me. I wanted- _needed_- to be closer to him. I wanted to let him know that I would never leave him either...

"So what now?" Rory asked expectantly of us. We both turned away from our moment and looked at her.

_Good question..._

**Domestic issues- YEY! Well, at least now you know why she was so ready to leave with the Doctor, and the next chapter is going to explore that even more! I would say that the next chapter is going to be up soon, but I'm so unpredictable that it won't mean anything, so... Until next time :)**

**Please tell me what you think!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Welcome to chapter 15, peasants! (just kidding ... kinda) So this chapter is more focused on Lily****'s pre-Doctor life, and I know I promised action like three chapters ago but then things happened... Anyway I promise the _will_ be some next chapter.**

**I would also like to take a moment to give the biggest thank you to all my reviewers! You guys are so amazing and every time I see that I got another review it just makes me the happiest person in the world and I love talking to all you guys and you are the best people on Earth! I just needed to say that...**

**Sorry that was so long, on with the story!**

I was sitting on the steps of my back porch when I heard the sliding door open behind me. I didn't even have to turn around to see who it was- I knew the Doctor's footfalls by heart.

"Hello," he said cheerily, jumping down from the porch and sitting on the step beside me. "Beautiful night." He pointed to the stars and beautiful full moon above us.

I laughed a little. It was quite beautiful, but I couldn't help but remember what the universe looked like from the other side of the atmosphere. "Yeah, I guess I'm just used to a better view now," I said, bumping his with my shoulder.

He smiled and nodded, "Fair enough."

We were silent for a moment, then: "I guess you weren't exaggerating about your parents,"

I grimaced, after what had just happened the last thing I wanted to think of was my parents. "You should never doubt my judgement," I remarked earnestly, "I thought you were helping Rory with the dishes?"

The Doctor made a face: he didn't want to do them but I had been insistent on him getting the experience. Really I just wanted to see the look on his face, but he didn't have to know that...

"She began interrogating me- I thought it best to avoid her."

"Ah," I nodded, "wise decision."

"Yes, I believe it was," he said.

After a moment he looked away and fiddled with his hands, seeming to struggle with what he wanted to say. I knew from experience that that was never a good sign, so I was a little wary when I spoke, "What is it?"

He looked up at me and seemed to make up his mind, "It's just ... If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" He clarified when I gave him a confused look, "I mean, what happened that was so bad to cause _that_?" He motioned back to the house.

I looked down and sighed, I wasn't too thrilled about taking a trip down memory lane. "It's ... a long story," I finished lamely.

He gave me an encouraging smile, "Lily, I've lived for 1200 years, I think I can spare a few minutes to hear your life story."

I smiled back. Really, I just didn't want to tell him because I knew exactly how he'd react: he'd get all sympathetic and understanding and tell me that it was all right- but I didn't want that. I didn't want his pity, I wanted to move on. Then again, he did just sit through World War III- so he kind of deserved to know.

"It's alright," he said quietly. I looked up to see him staring into the distance, "You don't have to tell me if you want."

I wanted to say _Thank you_, but somehow my mouth worked faster than my brain and I found myself saying, "No, it's okay." _Oh, shit. Why the hell did you say that?!_

I sighed and put my head in my hands while the Doctor waited patiently for me to start my story. I didn't even know where to begin. "Well..." the Doctor looked at me when I finally spoke, "I guess it started when I was about eight. Do you remember that picture of me? The one when I was little?"

He nodded, "Yes. You had blonde hair and brown eyes. Your sister said that you just woke up one morning and looked different."

"Yep. Well, a few months after that I started getting these headaches. They weren't that bad at first and only lasted a little while, so the doctor's just gave me some pain medications and said it was nothing. Then they started getting worse... They made me do blood tests, PETs, MRIs, CTs- the whole nine yards, and they still couldn't find anything wrong with me.

"So it went on like that for about another two years. Then, one day I get a vision- your name." The Doctor looked at me in astonishment and I nodded with a wry smile, "Naturally it happened in the middle of class so there went my limited social life... And they took me to the ER to do all the scans _again_ and still couldn't find anything wrong. I told the doctors that I saw a picture when I had my 'episode' and they decided to send me to a psychiatrist.

"That's when I became 'crazy'," I made finger quotes to express my frustration, "I went to my psychologist every week and did monthly check-ups with my psychiatrist. I only got visions every once and a while- probably ten times a year, if even.

"Then that continued for another three years or so until it got worse," I paused. I hated thinking about this part of my life, but I kept going because now that I started, I didn't seem to be able to stop. I'd been holding back these waters for years and now the dam had finally broken. "I started getting visions more and more often, probably once a week. That was the worst time... My parents made me stop going to school for a few months because they were 'concerned for my health'- really I think they were just getting tired of the other parents talking about it. So I was home alone all day because my parents both worked (neither of them thought to get time off to take care of me) and Rory, of course, was still in school.

"One day, I was making lunch for myself on the stove- oh! Do you know those little make-it-yourself mac and cheese boxes with the powdered cheese?" I asked the him.

The Doctor made a face, "Powdered cheese?"

I laughed, "I'll take that as a 'no' then- probably for the best, those things are dreadful. Anyway, I was cooking on the stove when I got a vision. I lost complete control of my body and, when I fell, I hit my head on the counter and knocked myself out. Suffice to say, my parents are complete self-absorbed idiots who should not have left me alone, but that's beside the point... The- uhm... The stove caught fire and ... well," I stopped and my hand snaked to my left side as I said this. The Doctor sat up straight and looked to see what I was doing. My hand gently lifted up the side of my shirt to reveal the patch of skin that was slightly darker than the rest of my body. His brow furrowed and his hand lightly touched the scarred tissue, sending electric tingles throughout my entire body. My breath hitched and the Doctor froze before pulling his hand back and looking back up at my face. When I looked at him there was something in his eyes I couldn't put my finger on, but I didn't have time to think about that; I had to finish my story before I had the chance to stop.

I cleared my throat and pulled my shirt back down, trying to ignore the unpleasant burning sensation I could feel forming in my eyes. "The firemen pulled me out before I got hurt too bad, but it freaked the hell out of my parents. They decided that I was too risky to be left alone and that I was to much of a burden to have... So they locked me up... I was fourteen." I looked up at the Doctor to see if he was going to say anything, but he seemed to decide to stay quiet until I was done.

"The asylum wasn't the best place on Earth, to say the least. I mean, I wasn't _actually_ crazy, but I was treated like it. I got on well enough with the staff and patients, but there's still a certain _feeling_ you get when you're there. It's like complete isolation, and you have to deal with the fact that you're there because no one else wants you...

"I was there for two months and only saw my parents three times, I guess that's when I started feeling so much animosity towards them. Rory came, though. Almost every day she would take the tube from her school to the institution and spend the afternoon with me. I don't thing she never told our parents, though. She probably just said that she had a club or something after school."

I wiped a stray tear that I had failed to hold back and the Doctor looked at me sadly. "Anyway, the rest is history. My visions got better and I was released. For the next three years my visions weren't that bad, but I was eternally known as the 'crazy' girl. Then they got worse again, but before my parents could lock me up, I moved out." I turned to face him and smiled, "Then I met you," I said as I turned away again. "And that's my story. It's only fair, I suppose, for you to know mine since you told me yours." I thought back to the day when the Doctor told me about his life before he ran away with his TARDIS, and why he had to leave in the first place.

The Doctor sighed and stretched his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into a hug. "Oh, Lily. What am I going to do with you?"

I smiled to myself, "Well, I like the direction you're going."

I could feel the Doctor smile into my hair. "I'm sorry, Lily. I'm so, so sorry." He didn't say much else, but I didn't need any more. I could feel all of his unspoken words flow through me as he stroked my shoulder with his thumb and kissed the top of my head. I smiled to myself and let out a small chuckle as I remembered someone speaking those words before.

"What?" he asked, pulling back with a confused expression on his face.

I shook my head, "It's nothing- you just remind me of someone."

The Doctor put on a look of mock offense, "Someone like me? I pride myself on being one of a kind, Lily. Who was this undoubtedly handsome stranger?"

I could tell he was trying to cheer me up, so I decided to tell him: "A couple of years ago, right after I got released from the institution, I met this man in Hyde Park. At first I thought he was a pervert or something because he seemed so interested in me, but after we talked for a while I told him my life story. I don't even know why, really. Maybe I was sad or desperate for someone to care, but I just ... trusted him for some reason." I looked up and smiled at him, "You remind me of him somehow, I don't even know why I suddenly remembered that."

The Doctor smiled and we lapsed into a comfortable silence. It was very strange, actually, to just sit there and not talk to him (since he was always talking), but somehow it still felt natural. His arm slowly slipped off from my shoulders and fell to his side. I leaned into him at the loss of contact and he took one of my hands into both of his.

I don't know how long we sat there, it could've been hours or seconds- but honestly I didn't really care. Being with the Doctor, I felt safe, loved even. I'd never felt that with anyone, even Rory. I had promised myself a long time ago that I would never leave the Doctor, but it was only now that I realized he would never leave me. And that was better than anything he could've said to me.

"Doctor?" I asked suddenly.

"Hm?" The Doctor turned to look at me, and as soon as our eyes met, my mind went blank. All that I had planned to say somehow escaped me and I found myself struggling for words. His eyes were just so _hypnotic_. I could see his whole life through his eyes. There was pain, and loss, and regret, and guilt, and sadness beyond comprehension. But there was also hope, and compassion, and faith, and undying love... How could I not get lost in those eyes? They had seen the whole universe: places and beings and times I could never possibly dream of. I never wanted to stop looking.

The Doctor noticed my preoccupation, "Lily?"

My eyes refocused again and I realized I was staring at him. I blushed a little but didn't look away. "I just..." I couldn't think of what to say, because how could words possibly express what I wanted to sat to him? "Just ... thank you."

The Doctor's eyes widened slightly as I leaned forward, but he stayed still as I pressed our lips lightly together.

It was awkward at first, due to the fact that the Doctors arms flew up to his sides and he didn't seem to know what to do with himself, but after a few seconds I could feel him begin to relax. It wasn't long before his lips began moving against mine and one of his hands wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer.

I had often imagined what kissing the Doctor would feel like, but I must admit my imagination never gave him _this_ much credit. It was easy to forget that he had 1200 years of dating experience over me (since he acted like a giant five year old half the time), but his kissing skills were definitely advanced.

It was perfect, until a strange sound reached my ears. I ignored it at first (because I was a little preoccupied at the moment), but the roaring started getting louder and louder until I was sure the Doctor could hear it too.

He pulled away suddenly (I noted how deliciously plump his lips looked from our previous activities) and looked away from me to the sky. I followed his gaze.

Flying across the black night was a huge, dark mass that seemed to be sparking in some places. I tried to figure out what it was: it was too perfectly shaped to be a meteor, and it was definitely _not_ a plane. A small pit formed in my stomach when I realized what it must've been.

"Is that a ...?"

The Doctor nodded, "A spaceship, yes."

_Oh, great. The universe couldn't have given me five more minutes?_

**So I feel like this chapter was kinda rushed, but I'm leaving for Spain tomorrow and I wanted to post again before I left... Anyway, now we can get on with the action-y sci-fi!**

**[Mara (again, sorry): Can you try to send me your email username and service so I can contact you? I'm from there too- so I don't know we might know each other!]**

**Thanks again to all you lovely people who keep reading this story.**

**Please tell me what you think! **


	16. Chapter 16

**Um... hi there... Please don't hate me I'm really sorry it's been so long! I've just been really busy lately but I promise I'll be better! I was planning to make this chapter SUPER long to make up for it but a lot of people have threatened to torture me if I didn't update this soon so I broke it up...**

**Anyway, I think you've waited long enough for this:**

"Lily, where are you going?"

I was running through the hallway as I heard this and had to shout back my response to Rory, "I can't explain right now! We'll be right back!"

"Li-" but I didn't hear what she said next due to the fact that I had just run out of the house behind the Doctor.

He laughed a little as he slowed down so I could run next to him, "Finally something _interesting_!"

I would've laughed if I wasn't completely out of breath by this point, "I take offense to that."

"Oh, you know what I mean." He took my hand and pulled me faster as he led me around the corner, the TARDIS finally coming into view. The Doctor ran ahead of me and unlocked the door, leaving me to close it again after I had finally made it inside.

"Do you know where that ship is from?" I asked after I was done panting for breath.

He laughed as he began pressing buttons on the console, "Nope! Isn't it _brilliant_?!" He shot me one last cocky smile before we blasted off.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Oh!" I gasped as my body slammed into the floor of the TARDIS. The Doctor had been so keen to get to the crash site that he hadn't given me enough time to grab onto something before we took off.

"Are you alright?" I heard footsteps coming towards me before hands lifted me to my feet.

"Oh, yeah. Just peachy."

"Sorry," he said, giving me an apologetic smile.

I laughed. "So, are we here?"

His eyes lit up immediately and I could swear he was bouncing on his heels. "Yes!" he stopped to kiss me once, "Oh, I love it when there's something _new_." He stepped back and rubbed his hands together in excitement, leaving me still giddy from the kiss. _That's one feeling I'll never get used to_, I thought happily.

"Alright, you can have your fun. Just try not to blow anything up this time," I joked as the Doctor closed the TARDIS door behind us.

He sighed, "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Well it was an _ocean_."

"Yes, but the planet wasn't inhabited."

"I think the fish might've been a little upset at your actions though."

We continued bickering like this until we reached the top of the hill we were on, giving us a view of the destruction the crash had caused.

The whole field was torn up; it looked like a bomb had gone off. There was a scar entrenched along the far side, leading to a huge black mass that I assumed must've been the space ship. Some of the grass around it was still flaming from the impact and it had knocked over a few trees near the hill we were standing on.

"Do you think anyone else saw it?" I asked as we began to make our way down the hill.

"Probably," he said quickly, "which is why we should move fast- see if anyone on board is injured and get them out of here. There are others who can clean up this mess." He motioned to the field.

I turned to look at him in confusion,"Others? Like ... police?"

He smiled, "Sort of. They're like the alien police of Earth. They like to think they do my job when I'm not here."

"And do they?"

"Most of the time, yeah."

A few more seconds and we were so close to the ship that I could feel heat radiating off of it. The whole of it was colored like charcoal, in fact it looked like it might've been burned- although I couldn't tell if the atmosphere had been what burned it or not.

The Doctor crouched down and took the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket before pointing it at the ship, sending an eerie green light across it's surface. I kneeled down beside him and upon further inspection, I could see it looked similar to the space shuttles they used at NASA, but it was definitely alien.

"Well?" I asked quietly as he put the screwdriver away.

"I don't know," he said slowly. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with the wiring or the engines, so it should be running perfectly."

"But it crashed," I deadpanned. He just nodded, thinking. "Anyone on board?"

He shook his head, "No. Well, at least no one the sonic recognizes. It's possible we could be dealing with a species it's not programmed for."

I paused for a moment, "Should we knock just in case?"

He turned to me and smiled amusedly, "You are so human."

"I'll take that as a yes." I returned his smile and stood up, pushing myself closer to the ship. I extended my arm cautiously until I was about an inch away from the dark metal. It must've been at least a hundred degrees in the air surrounding it. I suddenly wasn't that keen to touch it.

I looked back at the Doctor for reassurance, which he gave with an over-dramatic smile and two thumbs up. I smiled back at him sarcastically before turning back to the ship and quickly tapping the shell with my fist.

It was cool. Like _really_ cool- probably the same temperature as the night air. I extended my hand forward again with a little more confidence and knocked four more times, earning no response just as before.

I turned back to the Doctor and shrugged, "I guess no one's home."

"I suppose so..." He stayed squatting with a pensive look on his face.

Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. I turned on my heels and began skipping around the ship to look for an entrance. "We'll just have to break in," I said to the Doctor in excitement.

He stared at me for a moment. "I think I'm starting to be a bad influence on you."

I winked at him. "Come on, you know you want to."

He kept his face serious for a moment before he shrugged and his face broke into a smile. "Yeah, I do." He ran around the side of the ship and I followed him, the green light of the sonic screwdriver lighting our path.

We were at it for a few moments when I heard a triumphant, "Ha!" coming from the Doctor. He traced the sonic screwdriver over the dark metal, making the outline of a large rectangle appear in the process. "Oh, I'm brilliant!"

I smiled at him and rolled my eyes, "Yeah, you're gorgeous."

We paused for a few moments, waiting for something else to happen. "So ... are you sure that's the door? 'Cause I'm pretty sure doors are supposed to open."

He sighed in exasperation, "Yes, I'm sure! It's just being ... difficult!" On the last word, he kicked his foot forward and the sound of it's collision with the metal rang throughout the field. The Doctor groaned in pain and hopped around on one foot.

I crossed my arms and eyed him skeptically, "Well, what good did you think that-" I stopped short when a short, metallic grinding reached my ears. I turned my head incredulously toward the ship and the Doctor followed my gaze. The outline of the door grew brighter and brighter until we had to shield our eyes. The grinding became louder until, with a final _click_, the door came out of it's frame and began to gently slide away, exposing even more light.

"Ha!" The Doctor shouted in delight, pulling me farther away from the ship by the hand, "And you thought that wouldn't work!"

I glared at him pointedly before the light became too bright for me to stand and I had to turn away. "What happens if they're not friendly?"

"Then I guess I've just made everything a million times worse!"

Finally the door was completely open and the unobstructed light filled the clearing. Suddenly, a dark shadow appeared in the doorway, accompanied by another, then another. They grew bigger and bigger until the light was almost completely blocked and they stepped out of the ship. Then, the field was plunged once more into darkness.

I blinked several times to try and make the red spots disappear from my eyes and turned my head in search of the Doctor in the sudden darkness. When I could finally see again, I made out the Doctor, who was staring and the three new people in front of us.

The first thing I registered about them was that they were tan, like _really_ tan. Not exactly Snooki worthy, but still. And their hair was bleached white, the same color as the clothes they were wearing, which were startlingly bright even in the night. Their eyes were strange too, all of them had eyes that were the lightest shade of blue.

The clearing was dead quiet for a moment, then: "Hello!" The Doctor said cheerily, "My name is the Doctor, and this is Lily. We were concerned that you needed assistance with your ship, do you know why you crashed?"

They didn't say a word.

I looked at the Doctor in concern, "They can understand us, right? The TARDIS is still translating what we say?"

"It should be." He turned back to the aliens, "Can you understand me?"

The three of them blinked and cocked their heads to the side simultaneously, almost like they were one organism. Then the woman in front opened her mouth:

_From sandy hills of far,_

_We search our stolen Star,_

_Of fire and breath it was made,_

_And ruby Life it will blaze._

Her mouth didn't move when she spoke this, and in a moment I realized why: _she wasn't speaking._ I had just heard her speak _in my mind_. I looked at the Doctor in amazement and he shared my elated look.

He turned back to the strange trio, "So you came because something was stolen from you?"

One of the men behind her opened his mouth this time:

_Breath of Goddess you shall return,_

_Before our fire stops it's burn,_

_Or our cleansing flames we shall send,_

_Our stolen treasure is your end._

I looked at the Doctor again, this time with a little trepidation, "Did that sound like a threat to you?" I whispered in the hope that I would be unheard by the trio.

I could see a glimmer of concern in his eyes as well. "I think it was more of a warning."

Not two seconds after he said this, the three aliens simultaneously moved their hands to the belt at their waist, pulling out what looked like short, wand-like poles and pointing them at us.

"That, however, looks like a threat," the Doctor quickly reasoned before pushing me down to avoid the jets of orange flame that were shot from their guns.

"Really?" I shouted sarcastically as we scrambled off the ground, still ducking out of the way of the flames. We ran to the edge of the clearing to the sanctuary of the trees, dodging the fire the whole time.

Once we reached the forest the Doctor hid behind one of the thicker trees and I chose one right beside his. "Oh!" I heard him exclaim in an out-of-breath voice. "Oh, how could I be so _stupid_. The Star, the breath of a Goddess, the fire- it all makes sense!"

"What are you on about now?" I shouted to him. I could tell by the accuracy of the shooting flames that the aliens were coming closer to us, but the Doctor still didn't start running again.

"The Thermo Natio!" He said as if it was obvious.

"The what?!"

"A species so ancient they're thought to be born from fire itself! I thought they were just a myth!" He said with a mix of concern and excitement.

"Well that's great, what do we do now?" I said, moving my body father to the left as I had wandered into their line of fire.

"Best idea-" he paused to look around the tree and narrowly avoided a fireball aimed at his head, "Run!" He pushed himself away from the tree and grabbed my hand before pulling me further into the woods. Before long I could see minuscule lights beginning to form ahead of us. As we got closer I could begin to discern-

"A road!" I shouted to him. He looked ahead and nodded, pulling me faster in the direction we were both looking.

It was times like these where I wished I hadn't skipped gym in high school...

We came to the edge at the same moment a large, black van pulled up to the side of the road. The passenger door flew open and a voice from within shouted "Get in!"

Still hearing the sound of shooting behind us and beginning to smell burning wood, the Doctor and I both flung ourselves into the passenger seat, barely having time to close the door behind us before the car started speeding away.

Both of us exhaled sighs of relief as we adjusted ourselves in the dark car (we were both squished into one seat).

The Doctor turned his head toward the drivers seat and made a noise somewhere between a groan and a laugh, "Oh, great."

"Hey, that's no way to treat an old friend," a confident, laughing voice sounded from the seat beside us. I craned my head around the figure of the Doctor blocking the stranger from view and was met with sparkling blue eyes.

"And who is this lovely creature?" He asked, shooting me an alluring smile.

"Lily," I struggled to say (as I was still stuck between the Doctor and the door).

"Lily," he repeated with a smile. "Hi there," he extended the hand that wasn't on the steering wheel towards me, "Captain Jack Harkness."

**Yey Jack is back! So I hope that was at least a small consolation for me being horribly late... I will try to post again soon to make up for it since my schedule just cleared up. Thank you to all of you who are still interested in this story, you guys mean the world to me!**

**And a very special thank you to Link's Twin for giving me their amazing idea for these aliens!**

**Please tell me what you think!**


	17. Chapter 17

**As usual thank you so much to all my reviewers and followers I love you guys to much!**

**Ok, story time:**

"So ... who exactly are you?"

The American smiled at me again, "Jack Harkness- I'm the leader of Torchwood in Cardiff."

"Torchwood?" I asked.

The Doctor turned to me this time, "Remember those alien police I told you about?"

I nodded, "The ones who think they do your job?"

"Hey!" Jack looked at the Doctor in indignation.

The Doctor looked awkwardly between the two of us, "Well, that's not important right now. What we _should_ be focusing on are those tanned aliens that just tried to kill us."

"Oh yeah, just those," I remarked sarcastically. "Are we just going to let them run around London? Or would you like to give them more target practice?"

Jack laughed, "Oh, I like her."

The Doctor just snorted, "Wait 'till you get to know her."

I turned to him with a mixture of a laugh and a scoff, "Oi! I am right here!"

He just rolled his eyes, "Anyway, we can't go back to get the TARDIS because they will probably be there. But I don't think we need to worry about them getting inside."

"I agree," Jack said, nodding, "From what I saw of them, we need to make a plan before we come back asking for more. Anyone have a base camp?" He looked at the both of us.

"Lily's house will do," the Doctor offered, smirking at me.

My mouth opened in shock of what a horrible, horrible idea that was.

"_No_."

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_Oh, she is _not_ going __to like this._

The Doctor and Jack stood behind me, waiting for me to knock.

I turned around to face the Doctor, "You know, why don't we just go back to the TARDIS? There's much more room in there anyway. Come on, let's go." I grabbed the Doctor's elbow and began pulling him away, but he only turned me back to my original position.

"Come on, Lily. You know if we run into those aliens again they'll probably kill us and we need a place to figure this out. And you're going to need to see her again at some point," the Doctor reasoned. For his part, Jack just stood there looking between us with a confused expression on his face. So far I hadn't really learned much about him, besides the fact that he was a compulsive American flirt, that is.

"I know... She's just gonna be so pissed off at me. This is the second time I've left her without telling her where I was going." I knew when I had left Rory to be with the Doctor I had seriously damaged her, but I could tell that this time I wouldn't be able to play the pity card.

"Hang on," Jack said in confusion, "are we talking about your mom?"

"Worse," I said in a tone of complete seriousness, "my sister."

The Doctor looked pointedly from me to the door and I knew he wasn't just going to let me run away. I exhaled as I turned to face the door and knocked- which honestly made no sense since it was my house in the first place.

I could hear running in the hallway before the door flung open and I was met with the wild eyes of my sister.

_Oh, shit._

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?!" she literally screamed at me- I could hear the echos of her voice run down the street. "Inside. NOW."

I quickly followed my sister's command and side-stepped past her into the hallway. The Doctor was not as fortunate: "Oh, no. You are _not_ allowed in here anymore!" She shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at him. Suddenly, she seemed to realize that Jack was standing right beside the Doctor. "Who are you?"

Even in this tense situation, Jack still managed to pull off an only slightly dimmed smile, "Captain Jack Harkness."

"Are you friends with him?" She nodded toward the Doctor.

"Yes."

She nodded as if considering, "Then you're not allowed in either!"

She made to slam the door shut when I stopped it. I looked out to the Doctor and Jack, "Just give me a few minutes." They both gave me an understanding nod and seemed very happy that they didn't have to be shouted at by Rory anymore.

"Lily, no-!"

"Yes," I interrupted her calmly, "Rory, this is _my_ house. You can't kick my friends out indefinitely." I stood there defensively until her breathing evened and shoulders slumped before I said anything else. I shut the door gently behind me, "Let's just talk, okay? The only person you should be mad at is me."

"Oh, no. Don't get the wrong impression- I'm mad at you! But I know that _Doctor _has something to do with it too! Before he came here you were fine, trustworthy-"

"Depressed." I said flatly. Rory's eyes softened and I looked down.

We were both silent for a moment, "I just don't like what you're doing." I looked back up at her with a question in my eyes. "The running off, not telling me where you're going, never hearing from you... You used to tell me everything." Her voice was barely a whisper as she said the last sentence.

"I know," I said softly, "And I always will. But ... there are just some things that you won't understand-"

"Oh, don't give me that!" she shouted, flinging her hands in the air and turning into the living room, "Don't you _dare_ give me that! After everything we've been through together! We're _sisters,_ Lily! We're blood! Family is one of the only things you can always count on in this world!"

My head felt like it was on fire and I snorted in false humor, my eyes seeing red for a moment. "Oh, that's _rich_! Family, huh? I can always count on _family_?!"

My head was still burning- I could feel it spread throughout my entire body and wherever it went, anger followed. Everything I saw made me want to punch something: the pictures on the walls and mantel, the stupid blankets on the sofa, even my sister with her _prying_. Her constant _prying_! Everything was just fire!

Rory looked down at my words in exasperation, "No- I'm sorry. I just-"

"Forgot?!" I spat at her.

"No! I can't ever _forget, _Lily!" She rubbed her palms into her eyes, "You think I can just _forget_ how ashamed I am of how my parents treated my sister?! That I can just _forget_ seeing you with all those burns after they neglected you?! I can't forget it- I can't forget any of it! I want to but I _can't_! I just don't want you to get hurt, Lily! Because out of _everyone_, you're the _only_ person-" she stopped short, blinking away tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. When she spoke again, her tone was even, "Out of everyone, you're the only person I truly care about."

My mind went completely blank. The fire was dying now, quenched by her unexpected words. "Rory, I-"

"No," she interrupted me again, "It's my _job_ to protect you. So, please ... tell me what's going on." Her voice cracked at the end and she looked at me with pleading eyes.

I nodded to myself. After everything she had done for me, and everything I had put her through the past few weeks, was I really going to lie to her again? No. No more lies.

I sighed in resignation, "Okay, Rory. The truth?"

She nodded and I motioned toward the sofa for her to sit down. She did with a slight look of worry in her eyes.

I exhaled again, "Okay ... Rory, the truth is that the Doctor ... is an alien."

Rory's face went completely blank for a moment, "What?"

"Yeah, he's a time-travelling alien and for over three months I have been traveling with him in his space ship." I could still feel the burning in the very back of my head, making it harder for my to concentrate on my sister. _Rory_, I told myself, _I have to focus on Rory_.

"Uh-huh." She looked like she didn't believe a word I'd said, "You've finally cracked, haven't you?"

I rolled my eyes, "No, I'm being serious! The Doctor really _is_ an alien." She still looked absolutely disbelieving. I shook my head, "Okay, I'll prove it to you." I walked away from her toward the front door and stuck my head outside. The Doctor and Jack looked at me curiously when they heard the hinges. I motioned for them to come in and they looked at each other in confusion before standing up and passing through the door.

"Did you work it out with Rory?" The Doctor asked me. I suddenly realized that he was probably able to hear our shouting from the front porch.

I nodded, "Yeah. But I need you to convince her that you're an alien."

He groaned and leaned his head against the hallway wall. "Why? Why did you have to tell her?"

He turned away from me and I grabbed one of his suspenders to pull him back, "Hey! I can't lie to her anymore, okay? She's basically the only person I have here and I'm just hurting her by keeping her in the dark. So you're going to march in there and convince her that you're an alien so we can all go back to being happy, alright?" I looked him dead in the eyes and he nodded.

"You're right, I'm sorry." He looked of in the direction of the living room, "I think she's going to hit me."

I laughed and straightened his bowtie for him before I stepped back, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

I noticed Jack was standing right behind us, watching our interactions with a suggestive look in his eyes. I cleared my throat and walked into the living room where Rory was still sitting impatiently. From behind me I could hear Jack whisper something to the Doctor and a flustered response of, "Shut up."

"Did she call you in here to convince me you're an alien?" Rory asked in a bored voice.

"Yes, actually. So, Rory-" he kneeled before her and took her hand. It took me a moment to realize that he was proving this to her in the same way that I had found out. "I want you to put your hand here." He placed her hand over the right side of his chest, exactly where I knew one of his hearts was.

Her eyes widened and she pulled her hand away before backing away from him off the couch. She looked at everyone in the room for confirmation of what she just felt before turning back to the Doctor. "So ... you're really an alien?!"

He smiled at her reaction- I knew he secretly loved going through this with people. "Yep. Strictly speaking I'm a Time Lord."

Rory just stood there with a shocked expression on her face before I heard Jack speak behind me, "I guess this would be a good time to say that I'm an alien too."

I turned to face him, "Really? You?"

He pulled an expression of mock indignation, "Don't act so surprised."

I gave him a slight smile, "So what are you, then?"

"I am human, but I'm from a different planet-"

"So I'm more alien than he is," the Doctor interrupted with a smirk at him. Jack just rolled his eyes and looked back at Rory who was much more interesting at the moment. The Doctor turned to her too before speaking. "So, just to bring you up to speed: I'm a 2000 year-old time-travelling alien who has saved this world more times than you'll ever know and more than I can possibly remember, and your sister is traveling with me. Are we good?"

Rory nodded slowly and the action seemed to calm her down, "We're cool... But wait- if you're a time-traveller then why were you gone so long? Couldn't you have just come back five minutes after you left?"

I smiled widely and shot a mischievous look in the Doctor's direction. "He's a crap shot."

He looked at my in indignation, "Stop saying that!"

**Ok, now that I got that out of the way this story should move much more quickly. I'm going to try and wrap up this part (since I had planned for it to be the shortest and it is now going to be the longest). And I can't promise you when my next chapter is going to be because my schedule is so unpredictable and I'm having serious writer's block for this story: so if anyone wants to add in the input for what they want to happen I would greatly appreciate it!**

**For anyone who's religious: Happy Easter! For anyone who isn't: Use it as an excuse to eat candy!**

**Please tell me what you think!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hi! I've been longer than I anticipated and I'm sorry but I was stranded in a hotel for a week with no wifi so I couldn't work on this chapter... Anyway, thanks as always to my awesome reviewers who always brighten my day and keep me writing this fic so please don't stop!**

"So a couple of homicidal aliens crash landed a few miles out ... and _your_ going to stop them?" Rory was standing with her arms crossed eyeing the Doctor in disbelief- we had just told her and Jack the full story of what happened at the crash site.

The Doctor stared at her, words seeming to fail him. "There's just no pleasing you, is there?"

"I don't know, I'm sure I could think of something that would please her." Jack said, shooting a wink at Rory.

The Doctor didn't miss a beat before saying, "Stop it"- he seemed to be used to Jack's comments.

I figured it was time to get to business before my sister started flirting back. "Anyway, before we can even think to take them on, we need to figure out who they are and why they're here."

The Doctor clapped his hands together, "Yes. Thank you, Lily." He walked past all of us to the couch and motioned for us to sit down. I opted for the seat next to him. "Now, I might already have a theory on that." He was literally jumping up and down in his seat from the excitement.

"Well don't hold it in, you might explode," I said sarcastically.

He gave me a half-hearted glare before looking back at everyone for dramatic effect, "The Thermo Natio!"

He looked around at the rest of us in excitement, but none of us seemed to recognize the name. His face fell a little, "Really? No one has heard of them?" He turned to Jack with faltering hope, "Not even you?"

Jack shook his head, "Sorry."

The Doctor sighed at the fact no one was sharing his wonder, "I suppose only Gallifreyans were told about them... It was what you would call a bed-time story for Time Lords- I didn't even believe they existed until tonight. The legends spoke of an ancient people, so old that they were said to be born of fire itself-"

"Hang on," Rory interrupter, "they were born of _fire_?"

At this point the Doctor looked like he was going to tape her mouth shut, "Well obviously the story is a little outlandish since it's a _legend_."

Rory was just about to make a comeback when I decided to intervene. "Alright girls, stop fighting. Just tell us the rest of the story, Doctor."

He and Rory shared one last annoyed look before he began speaking again, "According to the legend, the Goddess of their planet created fire, then the Thermo Natio themselves. So they weren't _technically_ born of fire, but it was part of their beliefs to-"

"Yes, we get it. It's a metaphor, just get on with it," I interrupted quickly before Rory could get the chance to.

"You're very impatient today," he observed quietly with a slight smirk, "After their Goddess created them, she disappeared. Some say she died, others say she went to another planet to create more life- no one was quite sure. But before she left, she preserved her breath in a common pebble, which turned ruby when she breathed into it. The Thermo Natio worshipped it, and it is said that every year they would take it up to the highest point on the planet. The sun would then hit it at an angle such that it looked as if the gem was on fire- therefore replicating the first flames that the Goddess created."

I played with my necklace as I thought about this, then I remembered something: "Wait! Didn't they say something about the breath of a Goddess? That it was stolen?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "that's what made me think it was them. 'From sandy hills of far, we search our stolen Star.' They often referred to the gem as the 'Star of Life'."

"So they came to Earth because they think someone stole their sacred rock?" Jack put together.

"Exactly," the Doctor replied, "I just don't understand why they came _here_. I mean, you humans are just coming out of your caves, there's no way you could steal their stone let alone reach their planet with your primitive technology."

Rory looked slightly offended at him calling us 'primitive'. "It's okay," I whispered over to her, "he just likes insulting species."

"Yes, sorry," the Doctor offered distractedly, "Although it is true," he added quietly.

We all paused for a moment, then I decided to voice what we were all thinking: "So what do we do? Even if the stone is on Earth, how are we supposed to find it?"

"We talk to them," the Doctor stated quickly, "Explain that we don't have their Star of Life and offer our services to help them recover it. It won't be easy, but that's all we can do."

"Well, it didn't exactly look like they were in the negotiating mood, Doctor," Jack reasoned, "Last time you tried to reason with them they set a forest on fire, and I might not be there next time to save you," he added with a slight smirk.

"Yes, speaking of, how did you know it was me?" The Doctor asked.

Jack laughed a little, "I hate to break it to you, Doctor, but you haven't exactly been _covert_. My team is constantly monitoring the planet for any sign of your TARDIS. I saw it pop up here earlier today and I figured you would be at the crash site- I know you can't resist a good mystery."

I felt rather than saw the Doctor glance in my direction. It was border-line scary how I could know exactly what he was doing without even looking at him.

"What's a TARDIS?" Rory asked softly, breaking me out of my reverie.

"My spaceship." The Doctor stated simply, "Which I had to leave in the middle of a field with the Thermo Natio! So we need to think of another way to find them..." He paused for a moment, lost in his thoughts.

After a few moments, Rory walked around the coffee table and picked something up off the television stand before a sudden, bright light filled the room with the headline: FIRES SPREAD ACROSS SOUTH LONDON.

"Found them," Rory stated simply, "Oh, look. They're close by." I smiled widely at her- leave it to my sister to come up with the simplest solution to the problem. She might not have known much about travelling in space, but she was still brilliant.

"I can't believe I never thought of that," the Doctor said in astonishment.

Rory smirked at him, "I suppose you have to have a _primitive human mind_ to figure out how to turn on the telly." She tossed away the remote and put her hands on her hips, waiting for the Doctor to make some kind of sarcastic comment, but the Doctor just smiled a bit.

"I'm sorry I called humans 'primitive', Rory. Believe me when I say I have a great adoration for your species." The sincerity with which the Doctor said this was so touching that I was surprised Rory could withstand smiling at him for a whole five seconds.

"Apology accepted."

I sighed in relief, "Thank God I don't have to hear the two of you bicker anymore."

The Doctor turned and smiled at me, "We always bicker." He motioned between the two of us.

"Yeah, but it's more annoying when other people are doing it."

He considered this for a moment before seeming to agree with me.

"So," Jack stood up from the chair next to the TV, "we should probably go before they destroy the whole city. We're really gonna go in there without a plan?"

The Doctor shrugged with a playful smile, "Nah. I'm best when I improvise. Something you should know, by the way." He poked Jack on the arm to emphasize his point.

Jack rolled his eyes, "How could I forget? I'll just pull the car around, then." Soon he was out of the door with a last flick of his coat.

"Right then," Rory said cheerily, "let's head off, then." She made to leave the room when the Doctor stepped in front of her with a shocked expression.

"What? No! _No_! You're not coming!" He pointed a finger at her and she scoffed.

"Why? Because it's _dangerous_?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes!"

"Then why are you taking my little sister?" She nearly whispered this, but she might as well as shouted it at him.

The Doctor froze and his face went completely blank. I turned to my sister, "Rory, I've done things like this before, but you haven't. I'll be-"

"No, she's right," the Doctor said softly before turning to me, "You're not coming either."

I nodded my head and advanced on him, "Yes I am! I've faced aliens far worse than these, and I'm not leaving you!" He couldn't leave me, he _couldn't_. What if he died out there while I was just sitting in my living room watching telly? I was in far too deep with the Doctor to let him go off my himself. I could feel my heart rate quickening and my hands shaking from the panic. _He can't leave me. He can't leave me._

"Lily, I-"

"No." I interrupted him, my voice raising higher, "No!" I walked past him toward the front door and was nearly there before I felt his arms wrap around my waist and pull me back. "Let go of me!" I couldn't figure out why I was reacting this radically- I could even feel the painful sting of tears forming in my eyes. Everything was just collapsing around me and I could feel the burning in the back of my head again and the only thing I could think was _nonononononono_.

"Lily, _please_, you'll be safe here!" he said quietly in my ear. I shook my head and picked up my legs so he would drop me, but he just ended up carrying me back to the living room.

"You can't leave me," I demanded brokenly. _You're my Doctor, my best friend. You saved me from the world that broke me. You showed me that I could have a good life. You showed me the wonders of the universe and taught me that there are people in the world that will accept me. You're the only one that's ever really tried to fix me. You're the first person that's kissed me. The first person I've loved besides Rory. I would die for you and I love you and I can't let you do this without me because you mean too much and I can't loose you._

I wanted to say all of that, to let him know why, but all that came out was, "No. No. No."

He finally stopped moving and set me down on the sofa, pushing me down again when I tried to stand up. "Lily, please listen to me," he took my hands in his and kneeled down in front of me, "you don't know how dangerous this is. The Thermo Natio aren't exactly known for being peaceful under normal conditions. They're desperate now, which makes them even more dangerous. I can't risk it."

He looked at me with pleading eyes, but I just glared back at him. It wasn't even an option. "If you leave me here I'll just follow after you and be in a bigger risk of getting killed."

That seemed to get his attention.

He gave me a sad look and deflated a little, "What if I had Rory keep you here?" Out of the corner of my eye I could see Rory cross her arms, like she was trying to enforce the Doctor's words. _Well they seem all friendly now._ I then realized that the only thing that had in common was their protectiveness over me.

"I snuck out dozens of times when I was a kid and Rory could never stop me. What makes you think I won't be able to again?" I knew I had him on this one. And I knew that he would rather have me unsafe with him than unsafe alone.

He thought for a moment while staring at me, so I tried to tell him with my eyes every reason I needed to go with him. "Please," he asked brokenly. In that moment I wanted so desperately to give him what he wanted, to make that devastated look in his eyes go away, but I couldn't.

"Let's go," I commanded him gently. He exhaled and gave one final nod of surrender before standing up and walking ahead of me out of the living room. I followed behind him and left my house before sliding into the backseat of the black car Jack was driving. The Doctor was still in the front yard, talking (or rather arguing) with Rory.

"Everything okay?" he asked with a worried look in his eyes.

I nodded, looking back at them. The Doctor finally nodded and Rory gave him a small smile. She then walked to the car with the Doctor in pursuit and slid into the seat next to me. The Doctor took the passenger seat in the front.

I looked between her and the Doctor with a confused expression and Rory nodded in confirmation. She must've made a deal with the Doctor to let her come along. He probably just let her because he thought she would stop me from doing anything stupid. His eyes met mine in the rear view mirror and I could see the worry behind them.

"Alright kids," Jack said with a wry smile, "let's stop these stoners."

We all unwillingly smiled at that.

**Wow this chapter ended up with a lot more angst than I thought it would, and it's kind of depressing... Sorry, but Doctor Who is an unusually depressing show. **

**And I'm so sorry I'm horrible at writing for Jack! I want so desperately for him to have a huge part in this story but I just suck at it, so I promise I'll do my best in the future 'cause I think he'll stick around for a few more chapters... At least you know I can't kill him off :)**

**I'm gonna try and speed this story up a little too because we're still only on part two and I thought this would be a lot shorter... Oh, well. See you next time!**

**Please tell me what you think!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Gah I have over 100 follows I can't believe it I love you guys so much I just want to keep you!**

**But unfortunately kidnapping is frowned upon in some societies, so on with the story.**

**Long ass chapter is loonnggg...**

Screaming.

That's all I heard at first. Then I heard the explosions. Jack veered out of the way when the building in front of us caught fire, almost hitting a group of civilians in the process. The whole street was completely destroyed: cars were overturned, people were flooding out of all the buildings and running into the side streets, and nearly every building on the south side of the block was destroyed.

"Oh my God," I breathed out silently. I heard Rory's breath hitch as well.

"We won't be able to go much further!" Jack shouted as he nearly missed another family.

"It's fine we're close enough!" The Doctor pushed his hand against Jack's arm to make him slow down, all the while keeping an idle hand on the door handle. As soon as the car was stopped he flew out of his seat, the rest of us not far behind.

As we stepped away from the car I could finally see them: three figures with tanned skin dressed in all white, with snowy hair to match. All of them sporting guns that were currently being fired at the area surrounding them. They couldn't be more than two hundred meters away.

"So, we're just going to go up and talk to them?" I asked incredulously.

The Doctor looked down at me with an expression I recognized immediately: it was the one he used when he had no idea what the hell he was doing. It was actually amazing he was still alive considering how often he used that expression. "Yeah," he flashed me a smile and waved his hands in the direction of the Thermo Natio, "how hard can it be really?"

Jack laughed darkly and pulled a gun from his waist, "Oh, you never do change, do you?"

The Doctor smiled at him and took my hand in his. I looked up at him and he squeezed it. For a second we just stared at each other, a silent conversation passing between us.

Rory coughed from behind me to get our attention, "Please stop doing that, I might vomit." I looked back and rolled my eyes at her and the Doctor gave me a gentle smile with a final squeeze of my hand before turning back to the Thermo Natio.

"Alright, here's what we'll do: Jack, you and Rory will go into one of the buildings that isn't ... well, burning. They've already seen Lily and I, so we'll confront them- I don't know how they'd take meeting new people. If anything goes wrong on our end- don't let us die."

Jack nodded at the Doctor's orders and turned to Rory, pulling out another gun. "Do you know how to use one of these?"

Rory smirked and took the gun, cocking it: "Having a soldier for a dad is finally about to pay off."

The Doctor turned back to me, "Alright, Lily. When we're up there, you are to stay behind me at all times, is that clear?" I nodded, anxiety growing in my gut from the distressed look on the Doctor's face.

"Okay then," the Doctor paused and ran his fingers through his hair while looking at our attackers, "Everyone ready?" We all nodded and Jack began moving with Rory toward the sidewalk on the other side of the street. I shared one last uneasy smile with my sister before the Doctor pulled me towards the threat in front of us.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Once we started moving in their direction, the Thermo Natio simultaneously turned their heads toward us and lowered their guns, walking in synchronized steps. Again I was struck by the thought that they seemed more like one organism than three individuals.

Sooner than I would've liked, we were less than ten feet away from them. They stopped and seem like they were sizing us up, their eyes flicking between the Doctor and I. I glanced over to where I knew Jack and Rory were hiding, making sure they were ready in case anything went wrong.

"Hello!" the Doctor greeted in false joviality, "There's no real reason for this sort of violence here. So let's have a little chat, shall we?"

He received no answer. Their eyes flicked between us again.

The Doctor didn't seem surprised. "Now you're an intelligent, advanced race, so you must know that nobody on this planet has the capability of taking your stone. So why do you think that it is here?"

At first they said nothing, then their voices rang in my head:

_From sandy hills of far,_

_We search our stolen Star,_

_Of fire and breath it was made,_

_And ruby Life it will blaze._

"Yes, we got that bit last time, but what made you search _here_?" the Doctor asked impatiently.

_Breath of Goddess you shall return,_

_Before our fire-_

"You're not _listening_!" I flinched at his sudden aggressiveness. Sometimes I could forget how absolutely terrifying he could be- forget the fact that he was a soldier. "_Why do you think your Breath of Life is here?"_

They blinked slowly and looked as if they were considering an answer for him. Suddenly, the three voices were filling my head again:

_The star is felt within our souls,_

_Like pieces to our race's whole,_

_When taken from us, we did find,_

_We felt the stone within our minds._

I breathed out sadly, "So it's definitely here, then." Now there was no chance that they would leave peacefully.

The Doctor nodded, "Unfortunately. The only thing I don't understand is who could've brought it here?"

"A thief maybe?" I reasoned, "Someone who didn't think they'd get caught on a planet as un-advanced as Earth?"

"It's possible..." However, he didn't seem convinced. He turned back to the Thermo Natio, who had been watching our exchange with mild interest. "If it is here, then you have a right to look for it. But you can't just punish innocent people who have no knowledge of the crime! The person you are looking for wouldn't be walking about the streets of London with the stone in his pocket- you're not going to find your precious Breath of Life like this."

They gave no response except for a slight tilt of the head. They seemed to consider the Doctor's words, and for a moment I thought he had gotten through to them. Then they pulled out their guns.

"No, no, no!" The Doctor extended his hands in two directions: one towards Jack and Rory, and the other towards the Thermo Natio, both signaling them not to shoot. I involuntarily shifted back behind the Doctor, preparing myself to pull him back the second I thought they might pull the trigger. The Thermo Natio, however, remained standing with their guns pointed at us, surprisingly not shooting.

"Okay, listen," The Doctor said quickly, "We can help you- we can help you find your Breath of Life quickly and without all this unnecessary violence!" At this the Thermo Natio lowered their guns minutely, and once the Doctor was confident he had their full attention, he began speaking again. "I know you don't want to do this: you would have scanned the Earth for the stone if your ship hadn't been destroyed in the landing. This is only your last resort! But I have a ship as well, and I can use it to scan the whole surface of the Earth. I promise, we will find your Breath of Life."

Everything was silent for a few moments, only to be interrupted by the occasional popping of the fires surrounding us. The Doctor straightened up in front of me and the Thermo Natio stared at us. No one seemed to be ready to make the next move.

Slowly, but surely, the three nodded and lowered their guns, holstering them at their hips. The Doctor nodded back and adressed me, "I think that means we should take them to the TARDIS."

"Do you really think we can find it?" I whispered, "I mean, what if it's cloaked or something?"

"Well then we'll just have to come up with something else." The Doctor turned his back on the Thermo Natio, grabbing the collar of my jacket to get me to do the same. Before I could even register what had gone wrong, I heard shots being fired behind me.

The Doctor grabbed my waist and pulled me to the side of the road, pushing me down behind a destroyed car which caught fire from the shots being thrown at it.

I groaned as my head hit concrete and the Doctor landed on my chest, shielding me from any stray balls of fire. His head shot up to look around us and I let out a shaky laugh, "If you wanted to be on top, all you had to do was ask."

He looked down at me and smiled before raising himself up and kneeling on the sidewalk, "Still joking at a time like this?"

"A life or death situation is the perfect time to joke." He offered me a hand and I sat up, positioning myself so I could see over the hood of the car.

The Thermo Natio were concentrating almost all their fire on the building where Jack and Rory were hiding, sparing some shots for the Doctor and I. Every so ofter I would see two pairs of hands snap up from behind a table and shoot back at the aliens.

"We can't just sit here," I said impatiently, "they could get hurt."

The Doctor nodded, "Yes, you're right." He became lost in his thoughts for a moment, "Okay, Lily ... They want to shoot, I'll give them a target. While they're distracted, you get Jack and Rory to the car and pick me up, hopefully before they kill me. Got it?"

I stared at him open-mouthed for a moment, "That's literally the worst plan I've ever heard."

He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, "Well we don't really have any other choice, do we? I'm trying to give you a way to get out of this alive with your sister. If anything happens to Jack, don't worry about him. I can't explain now, but he'll be fine. You just need to get out of here and get me to the TARDIS- hopefully we'll be able to find their stone and bring it to them before they destroy the whole planet."

I shook my head, trying to clear it, "But what if-?"

"Lily!" He cupped my face in his hands and leaned his forehead against mine, "You can do this, I know you can! I know you! But I need you to be strong, okay?"

I closed the small distance between us and placed a chaste kiss against his lips. I pulled back and nodded, "Okay."

He nodded back and kissed my forehead before standing up and running around the car. He stretched his arms up to the sky and shouted, "Look at me, I'm a target!"

I nearly facepalmed. Should I really have expected anything else?

As the Thermo Natio turned toward him and he ran down the street, I jumped over the car and rushed to Jack and Rory. I motioned for them to follow me when they noticed I was running toward them. Jack stood up and pulled Rory along with him. Soon enough I was running behind them and I could hear was a series of _bangs_ behind us and all I could think was a mantra of _please don't let him be dead_.

What happened after seemed to go in slow motion: Jack turned around to make sure I was following, then his eyes went wide and he shouted at me to get down; Rory turned around next and I could only just see her face before the excruciating pain shot up my arm. I screamed and my knees buckled beneath me, causing me to fall face-first to the ground. I could feel Jack kneel beside me before he too fell to the ground. I knew Rory was behind me but I didn't know what was happening to her.

I couldn't see. I couldn't hear. The only thing I could feel was the agonizing pain that pulsed through my body and made my mind go numb. I fought the overwhelming exhaustion that threatened to take over me. All I could do was breathe.

I felt a hand grab my wounded shoulder and groaned at the new wave of pain before I was turned onto my back. Through the slits of my eyes I could see the Thermo Natio standing over me, their previous stoic air replaced with what I could only describe as pure rage. The female bent over me and I began to regain my hearing. Someone was shouting as her hand moved towards my neck.

_I'm going to die. She's going to kill me._

"No no no no, _stop_!" I heard the Doctor shout as he ran into my sight. The other two Thermo Natio pointed their guns at him and he stopped while the female continued her progress toward my neck. I shifted and tried to push myself away from her, but she gripped my arm harshly and I felt her hand close around me.

"_Stop_! You have no reason to kill her just _let her go_!" He tried to get to me and the two restrained him. I looked at him one last time before closing my eyes. But then the pressure stopped.

_What?_

"What?" the Doctor asked softly. He looked between the Thermo Natio and me curiously before landing on the object in the woman's hand. In it she was holding my necklace.

"What?" I mumbled aloud this time. I looked to the Doctor for an answer but he looked just as confused as I was. I tried to sit up, but the pain that shot through my arm was enough incentive to keep me on the ground.

The female backed away from me and nodded towards the other Thermo Natio, handing the necklace to the one on her right. Once the two lowered their weapons, the Doctor ran to my side. "Are you alright?" he asked anxiously. His hand reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver, running the light up and down my arm until he seemed satisfied I wasn't going to spontaneously combust or anything.

"Where's Rory?" My words came out a little slurred, but he seemed to understand me.

"She tried to dodge one of their shots and I think she knocked herself out," he looked somewhere behind me, "Don't worry, she's alive- I can see her breathing." He wound his fingers into his bowtie and untied it, wrapping it instead on my upper arm to make a tourniquet. He then placed his hand on my back and helped me sit up, and the whole time the Thermo Natio focused on us with piercing stares.

"Doctor, I don't understand," I said, glancing at the Thermo Natio.

He nodded slowly and looked at the necklace swinging in one of the men's hands. Suddenly, a look of pure disbelief overcame his face, "No..." he whispered to himself, "_No_... That's not _possible_."

Without any further explanation the Doctor stood up, still maintaining a protective stance over me. "So that's it, is it? _That's _what you were looking for?" He pointed toward my necklace.

The female nodded, "The Breath of Life."

My jaw dropped. The first thing I registered was that they were no longer speaking in synchronicity, or in rhyme (thank God, I was _not_ having any more Dr. Suess moments). It took a few seconds for me to realize what she was actually saying.

"But ... no," was all I could think to say. I made to stand up and the Doctor wrapped an arm around my waist to support me. "You're ... you're wrong." I looked at the charm on my necklace and saw the reflections of the flames surrounding us dancing in its' ruby center.

"Lily," the Doctor warned me, "Don't make them angry."

As if on queue the woman fixed her glare on me again, "Thief."

I felt the Doctor's body stiffen next to me. "No, _no_. There must be another explanation." He turned to me, his eyes piercing into mine like they normally did when he needed more information. "Lily, where did you get that necklace?"

I shook my head to clear it. I thought back to when I had gotten it. I knew for sure that I had had it before my parents sent me off to the institution, because they gave it to me in a bag when I left, but before that everything was blank. It seemed like I had the necklace for as long as I could remember.

"I don't know," I breathed out, looking at the Thermo Natio. I knew they wouldn't believe that I didn't steal it, "Doctor, what are they going to do to me?"

The Doctor's arm tightened around me protectively and he blocked me from the view of the aliens. "I won't let anything happen to you. I promised, remember?" I nodded and he turned back to the trio.

"You're telepathic, yes? The reason we can hear you in our heads is because you open your minds to us. We're just hearing your thoughts." He waited for all three of them to nod before continuing, "Right then, a door once been opened can be opened both ways. Go into her mind and see that she isn't lying."

I looked at the Doctor in shock and he gave me an encouraging smile. I didn't really fancy the thought of homicidal aliens breaking and entering on my brain.

The female (who I had gathered by now was the leader of the three) finally nodded her consent. She stepped forward and I had to stop myself from retreating on instinct. The Doctor moved to my side to give the woman room. Her eyes never left mine, like a predator stalking its' prey, and I tried to not look away to show her that I wasn't weak. When her ice blue eyes were about six inches away from mine, she raised both her hands and placed them on the sides of my head.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

_I was eight and walking down the stairs. I saw my family eating breakfast and they screamed at me. They asked me questions and I didn't know why. Rory started crying because she lost her sister, but I wasn't gone. I looked in the mirror and didn't recognize myself._

_..._

_I was ten and sitting in class, my head started hurting but I ignored it. I tried to focus on the chalk board but everything became blurry. Then I was lying on the ground screaming. I saw circles against my eyelids, they were dancing and whispering something but I couldn't hear it. Then I was on the floor again and my teacher was calling an ambulance._

_..._

_I was thirteen and I woke up on the ground. I didn't know where I was. I walked home and my parents yelled at me. I had been gone for two days. They thought I had run away but I couldn't remember. I went upstairs and took of my red necklace. I didn't remember where I got it._

_..._

_I was seeing all my visions. All at once. The planets and the Daleks and the circles and the faces. Then me running and a man pushed me into a tornado. Then I was on a space ship with a strange symbol on the wall._

_..._

_The Doctor was telling me everything was going to be all right. He was hugging me. He was kissing me. I was on the floor. I could feel it. It was overwhelming me. I kept seeing the eyes. They were staring at me. They were staring at him. I laughed and said he was sweet, but it came out wrong. I was crying. I was laughing. He was hugging me. Everything went black._

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"No!" Hands released my face and my knees buckled beneath me. Another pair of arms caught me and pulled me close. I opened my eyes and I was me again. Well, at least present me.

The Doctor stood me back up, "Are you alright?"

I smiled weakly, "I'm always alright." That statement was completely ruined by the fact that my entire body was shaking. I had never seen that last vision before and hoped with my entire being that it would never come true. I looked at the woman who'd just seen my whole life in a matter of seconds, and who looked as though she had never seen anything as confusing in her life.

_Welcome to my world_, I thought wryly.

"I know. She does inspire a sense of confusion," the Doctor stated somewhat proudly to her. He at least seemed comforted by the fact that the Thermo Natio couldn't figure me out either.

"You did not steal the Breath of Life," she stated calmly, "but you have seen the mark."

"Mark? What mark?"

"The Mark of Ages," she said as if this was obvious, "It is the mark of our prophet- the scribe of the Goddess." She held out her fist in front of me and clenched it. When she opened it seemed as if the symbol was burned onto her hand, and then it faded.

Oh, yes, I knew that mark. It was the last vision I had before we came to London. A space ship with a symbol written on the wall: a pentagram inscribed in a circle with a swirl in the middle.

"Fantastic," I sighed, "another riddle."

**So this chapter's so long because I'm trying to move this story along, so all the chapters might be this long now! (but don't trust anything I say)**

**I'm really curious to hear what you guys think Lily's mystery is... So message me your ideas and if anyone gets it right I will literally send them a gift in the mail. Like no joke if you get this, you deserve everything.**

**And the italicized bit is a little confusing, but no worries it will al be cleared up in the next 1-2 chapters ... I hope...**

**Anyway, please tell me what you think! **


	20. Chapter 20

**Oh. My. God. I'm so sorry. Really, I wasn't expecting this to take so long... I'm not even gonna promise that the next chapter will be up sooner because I'm so unreliable but I do promise that I'll _try_ to make the time to work on this more often. **

**Anyway, read!**

God_ I wish he'd stop looking at me like that._ He kept giving me that look. _That_ look. The look he gets when he didn't understand something, which honestly I was used to at this point, but this time it was different. There was something in his eyes that I had never seen before when he looked at me. It was like he was angry... No, that wasn't it.

He was suspicious.

I looked away from him before I could become even more paranoid and instead focused on the Thermo Natio, all of whom were watching me with a mixture of curiosity and fear. It seemed like no one trusted me anymore. (Not that I could blame them, I hardly trusted myself at this point.)

I smiled wryly in an attempt to break the tension, "At least you're never bored around me." I looked over at him from under my eyelashes and saw that other than a slight twitch of his mouth, his expression remained completely stoic.

"So," he adressed the Thermo Natio in a grave tone, "your prophet, he can see the future?"

The woman nodded, "Yes, _she_ can. The Goddess sends her visions, and the Mark of Ages is her mark." She held out her hand to us again, "A circle, representing the universe," a flaming circle appeared on her skin, "five connected points, representing the four elements and the Goddess. And a swirl in the middle, representing the Vortex of Time." Now the full mark was burning on her hand, before she extinguished it by making a fist.

The Doctor froze next to me, "Did you say the Vortex of Time?"

I recognized the phrase as well, the Doctor had told me that the Time Vortex was what enabled the Time Lords to travel. So how could the Thermo Natio know of it?

One of the males stepped forward, "Yes. It is-"

"No, I know what it is," the Doctor interrupted, "I'm a Time Lord, we learned how to control the Time Vortex. But how do you know about it? I don't ever remember hearing that the Thermo Natio were capable of time travel."

"_We_ cannot," he clarified, "but our Goddess can. That is how she sends the visions to our prophet."

The Doctor exhaled and began to pace, clearly frustrated at the whole situation. He always did get grumpy when he couldn't figure something out.

"Do you think it's possible?" I whispered to him as he passed. He stopped to face me and immediately his expression softened.

"That their Goddess is a time-traveler? Not really, although I do suppose stranger things have happened. In theory it makes sense- it at least explains how their prophet gets visions. But in more than 1200 years I have never met another species that could manipulate the Time Vortex."

I thought for a moment, "Perhaps their Goddess is a Time Lord?"

He nodded and gave me a sad smile before speaking again, "I highly doubt it."

He resumed pacing and I stood silently, afraid to ask my next question. "Is their prophet like me?" He stopped again and I thought I could see something akin to pity in his eyes, "Do you think someone could be sending me visions?"

He smiled slightly and put his hands on my shoulders, "I don't know. But I promise we'll find out." He then turned back to the Thermo Natio, "So, this prophet, may we see her?"

The man furthest to the right stepped forward in anger, "No one but the High Priestess is allowed to see the prophet!" He turned to the woman next, "Jara, you must not let this continue! These people stole the Breath of our Goddess and are now trying to undermine the very basis of our culture!"

"Be silent, Lithis!" she ordered, her eyes flaring in anger, "I have already said that they did not steal the stone." She took a deep breath and turned towards the Doctor and I again, "Why do you wish to see our prophet?"

"I believe she can help us figure out what is going on."

She nodded, "And will you be able to find out who stole our gem?"

He though for a moment before nodding in return, "Possibly."

She seemed to be having an internal struggle before coming to a decision. "Then you may see her."

"No, you can not allow this!" the one named Lithis shouted, "No one is permitted to see her- "

"I do not need to be reminded of our cultural traditions, Lithis. Do you need to be reminded who your commanding officer is?" She said this so dangerously that Lithis flinched, but I could only barely stifle a snort. The Doctor seemed to notice and smirked slightly in my direction.

"If you can find the thief and bring him back for justice, than it is worth it for you to see the prophet." She stepped forward and extended her hand toward the Doctor's head, two fingers outstretched. She paused just before making contact with his skin, "May I?"

The Doctor nodded and closed his eyes before Jara placed her fingers on his forehead. He cringed and inhaled sharply, but before I could even respond, her hand was gone along with the pain in his face.

"My apologies," she said softly, "the transfer can sometimes be painful."

He shook his head and smiled, "It's alright. And thank you."

She nodded and stepped back, then she looked at me, "You are a curious creature, Lily. I hope you find the answers you are looking for."

"So do I. I hope we can find who stole your Breath of Life." It occurred to me that now that she wasn't trying to kill all of us, I actually liked Jara. She kind of reminded me of Rory.

She gave me what I supposed was a smile and faced her companions, "Let's go home." The man named Lithis opened his mouth again but she cut him off, "And another word out of you, Lithis, and you will wish you'd never come on this mission." She then continued to walk past them and in a few moments, they had completely faded into the smoke.

"Damn," I exhaled quietly, "she's badass." The Doctor turned and gave me an incredulous look. "What?" I asked innocently.

He just shook his head and smiled, "Don't swear."

"I almost _died_, I'll swear if I want to."

* * *

"Are you sure you're alright?" I asked worriedly.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. And don't you dare baby me, Lily Watercreek, or I'll kick your ass." Rory said this without an ounce of sarcasm, not that I doubted her after eighteen years.

I laughed, "Don't worry, I already got beat up by a bunch of aliens tonight, I don't need that from you too." The Doctor finally finished going over her with his sonic screwdriver and seemed satisfied with the results. Jack was still lying a few feet away but the Doctor didn't seemed that concerned about it. I suppose this was one of the moments where I looked at my life and went: _What the hell?_

"I suppose we're just gonna let Jack decompose over there?" I asked the Doctor coldly.

He just rolled his eyes, "I told you I would explain later, didn't I? He's fine, in a few minutes he'll be up and hitting on Rory again."

Rory laughed and shook her head, "Oh no. I think it's best that only one sister is dating an alien, don't you?" I just facepalmed as the Doctor rolled his eyes, he didn't even seemed to be phased by what Rory said anymore. Not that she was necessarily wrong...

"There's still one thing I don't understand," I said to the Doctor, "When we first met the Thermo Natio, they spoke in our heads, and in unison. But after they found my necklace-"

"They had their own voice," he finished.

"But ... why?" I asked.

He thought for a moment, "I think they acted as one organism because that's what they were programmed to do. I think they were assigned a mission that was so important to their people that they ... eliminated error by taking away individuality."

"They think that individuality is an _error_?" I asked in shock.

"When trusted in such an important mission, they couldn't risk it," he answered sadly, "Once they found the stone, they no longer thought it necessary to share one mind, so they regained their individuality. I suppose they thought it was ... logical."

We were all silent for a moment. "Well, I don't care how 'logical' they are," Rory said, "They practically broke London- I'm not a huge fan of them... Anyway," she changed the subject, "how's your arm?"

I looked down at my wounded shoulder. It was still bleeding a little and wasn't necessarily pretty to look at, but it didn't look life-threatening. "It still hurts, but I think I'll be alright."

"Maybe you need a doctor," said a voice a few feet away from us. Suddenly Jack began to move, just lifting his head up in time to see the jaws of Rory and I hit the pavement.

"Ah good, you're awake," the Doctor said jovially, smiling at our reactions.

"Yep ... ugh, that was fun," he said with a wince. He pulled himself up until he was sitting next to us, "Did you get them to leave?"

"Yes, I'll explain later, " the Doctor assured him.

"And how about explaining all_ ... this_," Rory motioned to Jack.

Jack and the Doctor traded heavy looks, "I can't die," Jack said simply. I opened my mouth to ask but he just waved his hand dismissively, "It's a long story, don't ask."

I nodded, I could understand the desire to keep your past a secret. And although Jack seemed like the friendliest (and most flirtatious) person I'd ever met, I could tell he had a complicated past.

Suddenly a faint sound reached my ears. "Oh no," I whispered softly, "We need to get out of here." I stood up and offered Rory my good arm to pull her up with me.

"Why?" she asked.

"_Sirens_," I said simply. "Unless you all want to stay and get questioned?"

"Yes, leaving is a good idea," the Doctor said, standing up next to me. He linked his right arm in my left in what was probably an attempt to keep me vertical.

"I told you I was fine," I whispered to him.

The Doctor continued to lead me to the car by my arm, "And I don't believe you. As soon as we get out of here, you're going to a hospital."

I laughed incredulously, "That's what I said to you the first time we met and you never went to the hospital," I accused.

"But I can heal myself quickly, whereas you can't."

I groaned in defeat. I hated hospitals. Every time I went to one I got a new disorder to put on my medical resume. "Fine, but you're taking me somewhere amazing afterwards to make up for it."

He laughed and opened the car door for me, "As if I've ever taken you somewhere boring."

* * *

"I can't take it!" he shouted in frustration, "How do you stand it? I feel like my brain is dying of _boredom_!"

The Doctor was pacing back and forth in my living room, as he had been for the past five minutes. We had come back from the hospital a while ago and were waiting for my pain medication to ware off before we went back to the TARDIS. Obviously he was tired of being domestic, even though we had only gotten here this morning. _Well_, I looked at the clock, _technically yesterday_, I supposed.

"Oh my God, it's been _one hour_," Rory moaned exasperatedly.

The Doctor just ran his hands through his hair and continued pacing, "It's so _dull_! Is this what you humans do all day? Just _wait_ for something to happen?! Just pop down and watch _telly_? I'm surprised you could get out of the dark ages!"

I rolled my eyes and Rory looked offended. "Don't get upset," I explained, "he insults species when he's agitated."

"Well it is true," he shot back at me.

"Then why don't you do something?!" I suggested angrily. He groaned and went off to do God knows what.

"Your boyfriend's impatient," Rory observed.

I laughed, "Tell me about it." I thought for a moment about how to make her understand him, "He just doesn't like being in one place for too long. He has the whole universe, you know, all of time and space. Staying in one place is wasting time for him... To tell you the truth, there's a part of me that can't wait to get out of here."

Rory and I stayed quiet for a while, both of us lost in our own thoughts. For a few minutes I would here the faint blowing of a vacuum running somewhere in the house. _At least he's being useful_, I thought with a smile.

"Just promise me one thing," Rory said suddenly. I looked over at her and was surprised to see her face was pained. "Take care of yourself."

"You know I can do that. And I've got him to protect me now, too-"

"That's what I mean," she interrupted, "You're very attached to him, Lily. I don't want to be ... intrusive or anything, but you seem almost codependent on him."

"I know," I said softly, "I need him. But ... he needs me too." Rory sighed in defeat and looked away, but I grabbed her arm to turn her back again. "Hey! I'm not just saying that to make it okay, Rory. It's true: we're both broken, but somehow ... we make each other better," I finished lamely.

Rory put her head in her hands and looked at me sadly, "I'm just worried about how far you'll go for him. I don't want you to do something stupid to protect him. I need you to be selfish, okay?" She looked down at the floor and covered her face, "You're all I have too, you know."

I sat there, stunned. I had always thought that Rory would be fine, even relieved, with me leaving. Without me, she wouldn't ever have to take any crap about having a nutter sister. She could be normal with an average life like I knew she'd always wanted.

"Rory, I-" I couldn't think of anything to say. Words couldn't describe how much I loved her, or how much I would miss her once I'd gone again. So I just told her what she wanted to hear: "I promise I'll be safe."

She nodded and gave me a half smile, "Thanks."

"You know ... you could always come with us," I said with a mischievous grin.

She snorted, "Hell no. I've known that man for one day and I already want to slap him."

"You already did slap him."

"And I could do it again."

* * *

"Hello, sweetheart!" The Doctor ran out of the car into the morning air and wrapped his arms around as much of the TARDIS as he could manage, causing all of us to do a simultaneous eye roll. While we were getting out I thought I heard him ask her: "Did those mean aliens hurt you?"

"Do you two want to be alone?" I asked sarcastically.

He spun around and gave me a huge smile, "Just happy to see her."

Suddenly a loud beeping blared from Jack's coat. He searched through it for a moment before pulling out a wrist band. "Well that's not good," he whispered to himself. "Sorry, kids, I'm gonna have to cut the goodbyes a little short- especially if I'm dropping you off," he added to Rory.

"Anything I can help with?" the Doctor asked.

"Nah, it's just the usual. Some alien's started a cult and is convincing people to kill fast food venders- don't ask why."

"Very well then, it was lovely seeing you again, Jack," the Doctor said as he walked up to Jack. Jack crossed the rest of the distance and hugged him, giving him a light kiss as he pulled away. To be honest, nothing Jack did even surprised me anymore.

"Always a pleasure, Doctor." He walked up to me next, taking me into a hug as well. "Lily Watercreek," he said as he pulled away and kissed me as well, "you are extraordinary."

I blushed a little and smiled at him. There needed to be more people like Jack in the world.

"What? No kiss for me?" Rory said in a tone of mock indignation.

He gave her a flirtatious smile, "Well, I'm not saying goodbye to you yet."

Rory winked at him and approached me. She opened her mouth a few times, but never said anything. At least she was as lost for words as I was.

"I'll see you soon," was all I said.

She nodded, "You better." She then pulled me forward into a tight hug. "Love you, Lil' Bit," she said with a small laugh in her voice.

I smiled, "Love you too, sis."

After another moment she let me go and fixed her gaze on the Doctor. "Don't give me a reason to kick your ass, because you know I will," she deadpanned.

The Doctor stepped forward and, to Rory's surprise, pulled her into a hug as well. He released her and rolled his eyes, "Always so violent," he chided her.

"Well someone's gotta keep everybody in line." With that Rory smiled and began walking toward the car with Jack. Once they were inside, she turned back and gave me a look that I could tell meant: "_remember what I said last night_."

Soon they were out of view and I sighed sadly. The Doctor noticed and took my hand in his, "We can see her again, you know. Whenever you want."

I looked up at him and smiled softly, "I know ... Come on, let's get inside before I get hugged again."

He took the TARDIS key out of his pocket and nudged my good shoulder, "Oh come on, you love being hugged."

We stepped through the doors, "Yes, but I'm sorry- I've already had my fill for today."

"Oh really?" he asked skeptically and I nodded in false sincerity.

Of course for the rest of the day he attacked me with hugs, not that I was complaining.

**So this was more of a transition chapter... but next chapter stuff's gonna go down. And it'll probably be the last chapter in this part of the story (remember there are three parts, and this is still the second). I just wanted to thank all the people who reviewed because for a while I was planning on not finishing this story (don't yell at me), but the reviews made me want to write more. **

**So ... please tell me what you think!**


	21. Chapter 21

_"Noooo!"_

I screamed as I jolted up. I looked around to make sure where I was. It was my room in the TARDIS. I sighed in relief, _It wasn't real, it wasn't real_, I repeated to myself. I tried to remember my dream, but all I could recall was running through red fields and tornados and symbols on walls. There was something else too, _excitement_, which was what had scared me the most.

"Lily!" I heard echoing through the halls. I sighed and smiled to myself, _He always comes running_. I always found it heartwarming that the Doctor was so concerned with me, even if it was unnecessary.

My door slid open and the Doctor ran in, sighing in relief when he saw that I was sitting up. I regretfully remembered the last time one of my nightmares had caused him to come check on me, when I had accidentally scratched his face while writhing around.

"Another one?" he asked as he sat on the edge of my bed. I nodded slowly due to the throbbing headache I always got after nightmares. He gave me a worried look, "They seem to be happening more often now," he observed.

I gave a wry laugh, "Yeah, no kidding." Ever since we had left London, I had been having nightmares at least once a week, and they were getting worse each time. The images themselves never changed, but the feelings behind them were getting stronger and stronger. I felt like something was coming, something I dreaded and couldn't wait for at the same time.

"Lily ... perhaps I should take you to see someone about your nightmares," he said hesitantly.

"What, you mean like a doctor?" I said, my voice rising in anger.

"Lily-"

"I'm not crazy- you said I wasn't crazy! And now you're giving up!" I hit his shoulder and he grabbed my arm, trying to restrain me without hurting either of us, "Just like everyone else- you can't wait to get me off your hands!" I was holding back tears at this point, still flailing while trying to hit every inch of him I could find.

"Lily- Lily! Stop! You know that's not true!" He gave up on my hands and instead reached forward to hold my face close to his, "Lily, listen to me. I am _not_ going to drop you off at some institution, understand? We've been together for months now, _months_, and I still haven't gotten any closer to figuring you out," he sighed, "If anything, you've become more of a mystery... I just don't want to take the risk of something _actually_ being wrong, something the doctors of your time couldn't detect."

I finally looked him in the eyes. There was nothing but concern in them and I believed everything he had said, but I absolutely hated hospitals.

"What about what the Thermo Natio said?" I asked suddenly, "About their prophetess, can we see her instead? Get her opinion about my whole "psychic" thing?"

The Doctor nodded to himself, "I put in the coordinates Jara gave me, but nothing was there. I have the TARDIS constantly monitoring the area for activity, but so far, nothing." He ran his hands through his hair and groaned slightly, "I don't understand," he whispered to himself.

I smiled, "Maybe we're not always supposed to understand everything. Maybe I'm just ... peculiar- nothing to figure out, just something to be confused by."

That made him smile, "A miracle?"

"Well, I'd sound conceited if I said I was a miracle," I laughed and he nodded in agreement.

"That's a nice thought... But neither of us believe it," he stated.

I shook my head, "Nope ... But you're right, it was nice to think that for a minute. It was easier. Then again, maybe it's not supposed to be easy," I reasoned.

He laughed, "Since when did you become keen to discuss philosophy?"

I thought for a moment, "I like to think of it more as ... human psychology."

"Ah," he said with a smile, taking both of my hands into his, "There's just one problem with that: I'm not human."

"I think ... you're the most human person I've ever met." He smiled at my comment, and I could tell that he considered it a complement.

"Well ... I'll let you get some sleep." He started to stand up but I caught his arm before he could get too far away.

"Will you stay with me?"

The Doctor gave me a sympathetic look and nodded. He then climbed next to me in bed in a more awkward way than I had ever thought possible, causing me to laugh and him to scowl. "Should I leave until you're done laughing at me?" he said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," I said in a tone that conveyed how completely un-sorry I was. "You just move like a five-year-old," I gasped through fits of laughter.

After he was satisfied that I was done making fun of him he turned off the lights and took my hand. I turned onto my side and laid my head and arm on his chest, feeling the soothing sensation of his two heart beats against my body. He remained still for a moment before kissing my head, "Sweet dreams, Lily."

I smiled into his shirt, "I knew I'd get you into my bed eventually," I teased him.

After I heard his indignant sigh I could practically feel his eyes roll. But that didn't stop a smile from coming into his voice as he said, "Goodnight, Lily."

* * *

"I told you!"

"Oh well, good for you," the Doctor snapped back at me. We were walking out of a hospital in the 24th century, and the cat nurses had just tested for every disease known to man (and several known to cat, apparently) and had found nothing wrong with me.

"At least we can cross off any medical reason for your visions and nightmares," he reasoned.

"Which still doesn't give us any idea of what's _actually_ wrong with me," I sighed. It was strange, for some reason a part of me was glad they had found nothing. Whatever was wrong with me, I had the feeling that nothing good could come from us knowing about it. He took out his TARDIS key and unlocked the door before turning back to me.

"I'm not giving up," he assured me, "1200 years and I've never given up on anyone."

I smiled gratefully at him and pulled him into a hug. "At least you're still in a good enough mood to hug me," he whispered into my ear.

I stepped back and smiled before stepping into the TARDIS. "And why can't I be in a good mood? I've got my man, my time machine, all of time and space-"

"Oh, so I'm your man now?" the Doctor asked with a laugh.

I laughed back at him and began circling the console, "Obviously."

"Oh, I see," he said, playfully following me around the room, "And this is now _your_ time machine?"

"Yep, and you're _my_ companion."

He nodded in mock seriousness, "So where would you like to go, Ms. _Time Lord_?"

I smiled at the nickname and started pressing buttons and turning knobs like I had seen the Doctor do so many times, even spinning a few times like he did before I halted next to the thrusters. "Somewhere ... _fantastic_." Then I pulled the lever and the TARDIS thrusted upwards.

* * *

_A few weeks later..._

"Must we really wear these?" I complained to the Doctor.

"Unless you want to be crushed by the pressure of ten tons of water then yes, I would keep the suit on," he said while putting on his helmet. We were on a planet that was completely covered in water, and there were life forms that had created underwater cities and societies. Ironically, the planet was called Atlantis.

Unfortunately, to swim through an ocean planet required ridiculous looking scuba gear. "That is some good incentive."

The Doctor smiled, "I thought so."

Just as he was about to put on my helmet for me, an alarm in the TARDIS went off. He froze for a moment before turning to the console and checking the readings from the matrix.

"Is it the external dampener again?" I asked curiously, moving to stand next to him. He shook his head but didn't offer any further explanation. "Is the parking break on?" I inquired with a smile.

He smiled, "Of course the parking break's on, that's what makes all the fun noises!"

"Why would you keep the break on just for the noises?"

"Because I like the noises, the noises are cool."

"Like bowties?"

"And fezzes," he said with a laugh. Any time he said something was cool, we would always bring up bowties and fezzes. It had become ritual at this point.

After a moment he stopped what he was doing. "Oh," he sighed.

"'Oh'? What's 'oh'?" I asked worriedly.

"Remember how I fed in the coordinates that Jara gave me a few weeks ago?" I nodded in response. "The TARDIS has just detected a ship in that area... It could be unrelated, or-"

"-It could be the ship that the Prophetess is on," I finished for him.

He nodded and took off his helmet, "Yes."

I sighed and put my head in my hands. Every time I even thought about what the Thermo Natio said my head flashed with pain. It was like there was a war going on inside me. One side telling me to go to the Prophetess and the other warning me to turn the other way.

I had told the Doctor about this a few weeks ago and he had been wary to approach the subject ever since. "Lily," he started cautiously, "I know that you're scared, but if we don't go now, we might never find her again."

I nodded, "I know, I know... And I want to go as much as you do, seeing as it's our only lead. It's just ... this feeling I get ... like something bad is going to happen."

"Lily," he put his hands on my shoulders and waited until I was looking him in the eyes before he continued, "You know I'd never let anything happen to you."

"I know that, but you can't protect me from everything... And I'm not only worried for myself," I finished with a meaningful look.

He sighed and dropped his hands, "It's up to you."

I closed me eyes and thought for a moment. Was I really going to pass up this opportunity because I had a bad feeling about it? I'd been searching for answers for more than half my life, could I give up now that I was so close?

I looked at the Doctor and realized we both knew what the answer was already. He gave me a small smile. "I suppose Atlantis will have to wait."

I laughed and threw my fist up in victory, "Yes! That means I don't have to wear this in public!"

He snorted and began unzipping me, "Yeah, it's not really your color."

"It's not anyone's color," I deadpanned.

"Oh, I don't know," he said, looking himself over, "I think I look great."

"Yes, yes, you're gorgeous," I said with a laugh, giving him a small kiss. "Now let's get this over with."

"Alright then," he said as turned his attention back to the console, "let's see if we can solve this riddle."

He entered in the coordinates and soon we were blasting through space.

**Ok so ... I don't know what's up with this chapter. It's kind of choppy and short because it's another transition chapter (I swear it's the last one) and it ended up really fluffy... Maybe I'm just trying to make up for what's coming *evil laugh*. The next chapter will be the last of part two and it should be REALLY long but I'll probably have it up within the next week because I have so much time to write now!**

**P.S. I know the Doctor is becoming a bit more out of character than usual, but that's just because I think being with Lily for so long would change him. Just in case you were starting to become a bit annoyed- I am doing it for a reason.**

**Thanks for dealing with me and please keep reviewing!**


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